10.5061/DRYAD.79310
Ronald, Kelly L.
Indiana University
Zeng, Ruiyu
Purdue University
White, David J.
Wilfrid Laurier University
Fernández-Juricic, Esteban
Purdue University
Lucas, Jeffrey R.
Purdue University
Data from: What makes a multimodal signal attractive? A preference
function approach
Dryad
dataset
2017
Preference functions
multimodal signals
Molothrus ater
2017-01-17T17:25:57Z
2017-01-17T17:25:57Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arx015
98776 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Courtship signals are often complex and include components within and
across sensory modalities. Unfortunately, the evidence for how multimodal
signals affect female preference functions is still rather limited. This
is an important scientific gap because preference function shape can
indicate which male traits are under the strongest selection. We modelled
how preference function shape can be altered under 4 scenarios of varying
signal content, including both redundant and non-redundant signals. The
model was tested with the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater); we
manipulated male song attractiveness and visual display intensity, and
assessed female preferences in an audiovisual playback study. We found
that the intensity of a visual display can modify how attractive a song is
for females. This indicates that the visual and acoustic male signal
components are non-redundant and modulate each other. Our study shows a
change in the direction of female preference functions for one signalling
modality resulting from changes in the attractiveness of the other
modality. Overall, our findings suggest that male signals in this species
may not be under the typical directional selection documented in other
species, but rather selection may favour males that possess a range of
different signals that can be used strategically during different social
contexts.
Preference functions of female brown headed cowbirds for male multimodal
signalsThis is an excel file noting the three behaviors we examined during
our mating trials: (1) whether females gave a copulatory solicitation
display (CSD) to a given male, (2) the CSD duration and (3) the latency to
begin a CSD. The file is organized chronologically so that the readers can
see the experimental block, trial day, and experimental order on a given
day for the females (i.e., birds) in the experiment. Male signals are
described categorically, as high/low intensity visual display and high/low
potency song and also continuously as song factor 1-3 and visual display
factor 1-2. Finally, we have some descriptive data on each female,
including her mass and her estrogen levels measured at the end of the
experiment.ForDryad.xlsx