10.5061/DRYAD.7MJ61
Mason, Nicholas A.
San Diego State University
Shultz, Allison J.
San Diego State University
Burns, Kevin J.
San Diego State University
Data from: Elaborate visual and acoustic signals evolve independently in a
large, phenotypically diverse radiation of songbirds
Dryad
dataset
2014
song
plumage
Thraupidae
transfer hypothesis
tanagers
2014-06-02T18:50:55Z
2014-06-02T18:50:55Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0967
655720 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
The concept of a macroevolutionary trade-off among sexual signals has a
storied history in evolutionary biology. Theory predicts that if multiple
sexual signals are costly for males to produce or maintain and females
prefer a single, sexually selected trait, then an inverse correlation
between sexual signal elaborations is expected among species. However,
empirical evidence for what has been termed the ‘transfer hypothesis’ is
mixed, which may reflect different selective pressures among lineages,
evolutionary covariates or methodological differences among studies. Here,
we examine interspecific correlations between song and plumage elaboration
in a phenotypically diverse, widespread radiation of songbirds, the
tanagers. The tanagers (Thraupidae) are the largest family of songbirds,
representing nearly 10% of all songbirds. We assess variation in song and
plumage elaboration across 301 species, representing the largest scale
comparative study of multimodal sexual signalling to date. We consider
whether evolutionary covariates, including habitat, structural and
carotenoid-based coloration, and subfamily groupings influence the
relationship between song and plumage elaboration. We find that song and
plumage elaboration are uncorrelated when considering all tanagers,
although the relationship between song and plumage complexity varies among
subfamilies. Taken together, we find that elaborate visual and vocal
sexual signals evolve independently among tanagers.
Appendix 2Comma-separated values including data for each song and plumage
complexity index for every species included in this study. Also includes
categorizations in terms of presence and absence of structural and
carotenoid coloration, habitat designation, and subfamily
groupings.TipData.csvAppendix 1Raw data from 20 song characters for 321
species of tanagers.Appendix1.csvPosteriorTreesPosterior distribution of
50 phylogenies used in comparative analyses.