ORCID Profile
0000-0002-5845-5513
Current Organisation
Macquarie University
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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Biological Adaptation | Evolutionary Biology | Ecology | Genetics | Quantitative Genetics (incl. Disease and Trait Mapping Genetics) | Evolutionary Impacts of Climate Change | Sociobiology And Behavioural Ecology | Population, Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics | Optical Physics Not Elsewhere Classified | Animal Physiology - Biophysics | Developmental Genetics (incl. Sex Determination) | Animal Behaviour | Life Histories | Plant Physiology | Quantitative Genetics | Life Histories (Incl. Population Ecology) | Behavioural Ecology | Animal Systematics and Taxonomy
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences | Biological sciences | Ecosystem Adaptation to Climate Change | Climate Change Adaptation Measures | Communication Networks and Services not elsewhere classified | Visual Communication | Physical sciences | Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity of environments not elsewhere classified | Fisheries - Aquaculture not elsewhere classified | Health not elsewhere classified |
Related Links
Publications
Lifetime Resource Utilization, Flight Physiology, and the Evolution of Contest Competition in Territorial Insects
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date: 09-2003
DOI: 10.1086/376890
Reproductive seasonality in the tropical butterfly Hypolimnas bolina (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in northern Australia
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 07-2001
DOI: 10.1017/S0266467401001365
Abstract: Because seasonality in tropical environments is driven by variation in rainfall, phytophagous tropical organisms are expected to exhibit mechanisms of escape in space and time that allow them to synchronize their breeding efforts with suitably wet periods of the year. This hypothesis was addressed by studying the breeding phenology of the nymphalid butterfly Hypolimnas bolina (L.) in the Australian wet-dry tropics. This species favours small, herbaceous larval foodplants that either die off annually or exhibit marked declines in leaf quality during the dry season. As expected, reproductive activity in H. bolina was broadly correlated with both rainfall and humidity, with in iduals spending part of the dry season (early April to late August) sheltering in overwintering sites in a state of reproductive diapause. The timing of the overwintering period was similar between the 2 years, which suggests that in iduals respond to seasonally predictable cues such as photoperiod. At least in 1998, the exit of butterflies from overwintering sites was relatively sudden and coincided with the first spring rainfall event. These findings suggest that H. bolina copes with seasonal adversity in the tropics by means of a regularly timed diapause.
Nature-via-nurture and unravelling causality in evolutionary genetics
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2014
DOI: 10.1016/J.TREE.2013.10.005
Abstract: Quantitative geneticists traditionally attribute phenotypic variation to genetic or environmental sources. New findings with near-clonal mice raised in a single enriched environment demonstrated significant developmental and behavioural ergence. This suggests intriguing possibilities for how (epi)genomes and environments might interact to drive phenotypic in iduality, thus shaping evolutionary pathways.
Information in the Biosphere: Biological and Digital Worlds
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.TREE.2015.12.013
Abstract: Evolution has transformed life through key innovations in information storage and replication, including RNA, DNA, multicellularity, and culture and language. We argue that the carbon-based biosphere has generated a cognitive system (humans) capable of creating technology that will result in a comparable evolutionary transition. Digital information has reached a similar magnitude to information in the biosphere. It increases exponentially, exhibits high-fidelity replication, evolves through differential fitness, is expressed through artificial intelligence (AI), and has facility for virtually limitless recombination. Like previous evolutionary transitions, the potential symbiosis between biological and digital information will reach a critical point where these codes could compete via natural selection. Alternatively, this fusion could create a higher-level superorganism employing a low-conflict ision of labor in performing informational tasks.
Fighting without weaponry
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-05-2001
Colour polymorphism
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2016
DOI: 10.1016/J.CUB.2016.03.017
Abstract: White and Kemp introduce colour polymorphism in animals.
Shedding new light on nature's brightest signals
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2002
Female mating preferences and male signal variation in iridescent Hypolimnas butterflies
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2014
Residency effects in animal contests
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 22-08-2004
Age-Specific Reproductive Investment and Offspring Performance in an Orb-web Spider, Argiope radon
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-04-2019
Condition dependence, quantitative genetics, and the potential signal content of iridescent ultraviolet butterfly coloration
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2007
DOI: 10.1111/J.1558-5646.2007.00014.X
Abstract: Structural colors result from an interaction between light and the fine-scale physical structure of a surface, and are often extremely bright, chromatic, and iridescent. Given that these visual features depend upon the aggregate abundance and architectural precision of photonic structures, structurally colored sexual ornaments seem well placed to indicate a range of mate quality characteristics. We tested this hypothesis by investigating the signaling potential of structural coloration in the sexually dimorphic butterfly Colias eurytheme. Males of this species display iridescent ultraviolet (UV) markings (arising from multilayer thin films) that overlay a broad area of yellowish-orange pigmentation on their dorsal wing surface. Only the structural UV has demonstrated function as a sexual signal hence we predicted that it should contain more reliable phenotypic and/or genetic quality information, which would be indicated by phenotypic and/or genetically mediated condition dependence. In two split-family breeding experiments we manipulated condition by exposing full siblings to different stressors at two different juvenile life-history stages: (1) reduced larval host-plant quality and (2) transient heat/cold shocks during metamorphosis. Both stressors had profound effects on key developmental and life-history traits. Each stressor also significantly affected male dorsal coloration thus, the expression of both structural and pigmentary coloration is phenotypically condition dependent. As predicted, the strongest condition dependence was evident in the brightness and angular visibility (i.e., iridescence) of the UV. Characteristics of both the iridescent UV and pigmentary orange also exhibited moderate-high and significant heritability (H(2) approximately h(2) approximately 0.4-0.9). However, genetic and residual variances did not increase under stress thus, the observed condition dependence was not genetically mediated as predicted if wing color trait signals "good" genes for the ability to either withstand or circumvent developmental stress. The heightened stress sensitivity of the iridescent UV suggests that it offers an informative lifetime indicator of juvenile environments and, henceforth, adult male phenotypic condition, which may be salient to females seeking a highly fertile and/or nutritious male ejaculate.
Long-term stability in the mating system of the bot fly Cuterebra austeni (Cuterebridae)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-2004
Species recognition of color and motion signals in Anolis grahami
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 03-05-2013
The butterflies of Australia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-08-2011
Aerial contests, sexual selection and flight morphology in solitary pompilid wasps
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-01-2008
Potential direct fitness consequences of ornament-based mate choice in a butterfly
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-12-2008
Sexual selection and morphological design: The tale of two territorial butterflies
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2010
DOI: 10.1071/ZO10060
Abstract: Sexual competition promotes sexual selection and may influence the evolution of morphology, physiology and life history. In many flying insects, selection for efficient mate location is thought to have influenced male flight morphology in characteristic ways, with exponents of sit-and-wait tactics selected to possess high acceleration designs (i.e. high flight musculature and relatively small, elongate wings). However, many of these species also engage in elaborate and extended aerial disputes over territory ownership, and the need for contest ability may also select for a particular design. I attempted to tease apart the effects of these two influences by contrasting the flight morphology of two closely related Hypolimnas butterflies: H. bolina and H. alimena. While the males of both species rely predominantly on sit-and-wait tactics, only male H. bolina compete for territories via extended aerial manoeuvres. Males of this species possessed lower body mass per unit wing area (i.e. lower wing loading) and more elongate wings (i.e. higher aspect ratio), but did not differ from male H. alimena in relative flight musculature (thoracic mass). Males of both species varied from conspecific females in having higher relative flight musculature, lower wing loading and lower aspect ratio, which only partly supports expectations based solely upon sexual selection. These data suggest that selection for aerial contest ability may act weakly upon wing parameters, favouring a compromise between power/maneuverability and energetically efficient flight.
Incomplete offspring sex bias in Australian populations of the butterfly Eurema hecabe
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-10-2017
DOI: 10.1038/HDY.2016.85
Predicting the direction of ornament evolution in Trinidadian guppies ( Poecilia reticulata )
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 23-09-2009
Abstract: Sexual selection is thought to be opposed by natural selection such that ornamental traits express a balance between these two antagonistic influences. Phenotypic variation among populations may indicate local shifts in this balance, or that different stable ‘solutions’ are possible, but testing these alternatives presents a major challenge. In the guppy ( Poecilia reticulata ), a small freshwater fish with male-limited ornamental coloration, these issues can be addressed by transplanting fish among sites of varying predation pressure, thus effectively manipulating the strength and nature of natural selection. Here, we contrast the evolutionary outcome of two such introductions conducted in the Trinidadian El Cedro and Aripo Rivers. We use sophisticated colour appraisal methods that account for full spectrum colour variation and which incorporate the very latest visual sensitivity data for guppies and their predators. Our data indicate that ornamentation evolved along different trajectories: whereas Aripo males evolved more numerous and/or larger orange, black and iridescent markings, El Cedro males only evolved more extensive and brighter iridescence. Examination of the El Cedro experiment also revealed little or no ornamental evolution at the control site over 29 years, which contrasts markedly with the rapid (approx. 2–3 years) changes reported for introduction populations. Finally, whole colour-pattern analysis suggested that the greatest visual difference between El Cedro introduction and control fish would be perceived by the two most salient viewers: guppies and the putatively dangerous predator Crenicichla alta . We discuss whether and how these evolutionary trajectories may result from founder effects, population-specific mate preferences and/or sensory drive.
Predictable adaptive trajectories of sexual coloration in the wild: Evidence from replicate experimental guppy populations*
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-08-2018
DOI: 10.1111/EVO.13564
Abstract: The question of whether populations evolve predictably and consistently under similar selective regimes is fundamental to understanding how adaptation proceeds in the wild. We address this question with a replicated evolution experiment focused upon male sexual coloration in guppies (Poecilia reticulata). Fish were transplanted from a single high predation population in the Guanapo River to four replicate, guppy-free low predation headwater streams. Two streams had their canopies thinned to adjust the setting under which male coloration is displayed and perceived. We assessed evolutionary ergence using second-generation lab-bred offspring of fish s led four to six years following translocation. A prior experiment of the same design, performed in an adjacent drainage, resulted in the evolution of more extensive orange, black, and iridescent markings. We however found evidence for expansion only in structural coloration (iridescent blue/green), no change in orange, and a reduction in black. This response lifies earlier findings for Guanapo fish, revealing that trajectories of color elaboration differ among drainages. We also found that color phenotypes evolved more greatly at the thinned-canopy sites. Our findings support the predictability of sexual trait evolution in the wild, and underscore the importance of signaling conditions and ornamental starting points in shaping adaptive trajectories.
Dissecting the variation of a visual trait: the proximate basis of UV ‐Visible reflectance in crab spiders (Thomisidae)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-07-2014
Manipulation of natal host modifies adult reproductive behaviour in the butterfly Heliconius charithonia
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 11-09-2019
Abstract: Advances in understanding non-genetic inheritance have prompted broader interest in environmental effects. One way in which such effects may influence adaptation is via the transmission of acquired habitat biases. Here I explore how natal experience influences adult host orientation in the oligophagous passion vine butterfly Heliconius charithonia . As an exemplar of the ‘pupal mating' system, this species poses novelty among diurnal Lepidoptera for the extent to which male as well as female reproductive behaviours are guided by olfactory host cues. I s led wild adult females breeding exclusively upon Passiflora incarnata , assigned their offspring to develop either upon this species or its local alternative Passiflora suberosa , and then assessed the behaviour of F 1 adults in a large rainforest enclosure. Despite the fact that juvenile performance was superior upon P. incarnata , females oviposited preferentially upon their assigned natal species. Mate-seeking males also indicated a bias for the proximity of their natal host, and there was evidence for assortative mating based upon host treatment, although these data are less robust. This study is, to my knowledge, the first to support Hopkins' hostplant principle in butterflies, and points to inducible host preferences capable of reinforcing ecological segregation and ultimately accelerating evolutionary ergence in sympatry.
Can older males deliver the good genes?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2001
DOI: 10.1016/S0169-5347(01)02147-4
Abstract: Females of many species choose to mate with old rather than young males, possibly because older males pass superior genes on to their offspring. Recent theoretical and empirical investigations have rejuvenated interest in the evolution of mating preferences based on age, and in the relationship between longevity and fitness. If the cost of signalling is a reduction in future survival and reproduction, mate choice based on age is one possible outcome when males signal their genetic quality. These recent investigations highlight the importance of understanding sexual selection from a life-history perspective.
Structural ultraviolet ornamentation in the butterfly Hypolimnas bolina L. (Nymphalidae)
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2006
DOI: 10.1071/ZO06005
Abstract: Many butterflies exhibit structurally coloured wing patches that are stunningly bright and iridescent in their appearance, yet functionally obscure. These colours are often exaggerated in males, which suggests a sexually selected origin. We studied the visual properties, morphological basis, and interin idual variation of structural wing colouration in the common eggfly, Hypolimnas bolina L. (Nymphalidae). Males of this territorial species possess highly directional UV/violet colouration that fully overlaps smaller white patches on their dorsal wing surfaces. We s led 56 males, including territorial residents and non-resident ‘floaters’ and assessed the properties of their structural colour using reflectance spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy. The patches reflect strongly in the UV range (300–400 nm), with a peak of ~360 nm, and the wing scales in these regions exhibit a ridge-lamellar surface architecture that has known function in other species as a multiple thin-film interference mirror. Peak UV brightness was variable, and both brightness and peak hue varied systematically across age classes. UV brightness was also related to hue independently of the age-related variation. Territorial residents possessed duller UV markings than their non-resident contemporaries, which is not consistent with exaggeration due to male–male competition. The high phenotypic variance is, however, consistent with a putative role for this male-limited trait as a sexual ornament.
Contrasting lifetime patterns of territorial success in the nymphalid butterflies Hypolimnas bolina and Melanitis leda
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2005
DOI: 10.1071/ZO05036
Abstract: Territorial behaviour is widespread among insects and serves as an important constituent of male reproductive success. In butterflies, competition for perching sites is mediated through aerial persistence duels in which the mechanisms of resolution have remained obscure. There is evidence in some species for an effect of age upon contest outcome, which could arise due to in iduals adopting lifetime strategies of reproductive risk taking, or as a consequence of lifetime changes in resource-holding potential (RHP). RHP in territorial insects is often equated to the ability for sustained or high-performance flight, and if the morphological and/or energetic determinants of flight performance vary with age then this may explain putative age effects. I addressed this possibility by charting the correlates of residency in two nymphalid species, Hypolimnas bolina L. and Melanitis leda L., at popular perching sites in tropical Australia. Among s les of 55 male H. bolina (20 residents paired to 35 non-residents) and 36 male M. leda (13 residents paired to 23 non-residents), I found moderately sized relationships (effect sizes, d = 0.46–0.79) between residency and the studied biophysical variables (body size, absolute and relative lipid stores, and relative flight musculature). However, differences in age were always much larger (effect sizes, d = 1.23–1.52), with old male H. bolina and young male M. leda favoured for residency. The most parsimonious logistic model of residency in each case proved to be the model containing age only hence, this study supports the notion of primarily age-based competitive strategies in these two butterflies.
Multiple views on animal coloration: a comment on Postema et al
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 27-08-2023
Female mate choice determines reproductive isolation between sympatric butterflies
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 08-12-2008
Evolution of displays in Galapagos lava lizards: comparative analyses of signallers and robot playbacks to receivers
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2015
Technicolour deceit: a sensory basis for the study of colour-based lures
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2015
Does it Pay to Care?: Exploring the Costs and Benefits of Parental Care in the Hibiscus Harlequin Bug Tectocoris diophthalmus (Heteroptera: Scutelleridae)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-03-2014
DOI: 10.1111/ETH.12233
Iridescent ultraviolet signal in the orange sulphur butterfly (Colias eurytheme)
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 31-01-2007
Abiotic and biotic predictors of macroecological patterns in bird and butterfly coloration
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-01-2018
DOI: 10.1002/ECM.1287
Macroecological patterns in flower colour are shaped by both biotic and abiotic factors
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-07-2020
DOI: 10.1111/NPH.16737
Abstract: There is a wealth of research on the way interactions with pollinators shape flower traits. However, we have much more to learn about influences of the abiotic environment on flower colour. We combine quantitative flower colour data for 339 species from a broad spatial range covering tropical, temperate, arid, montane and coastal environments from 9.25ºS to 43.75ºS with 11 environmental variables to test hypotheses about how macroecological patterns in flower colouration relate to biotic and abiotic conditions. Both biotic community and abiotic conditions are important in explaining variation of flower colour traits on a broad scale. The ersity of pollinating insects and the plant community have the highest predictive power for flower colouration, followed by mean annual precipitation and solar radiation. On average, flower colours are more chromatic where there are fewer pollinators, solar radiation is high, precipitation and net primary production are low, and growing seasons are short, providing support for the hypothesis that higher chromatic contrast of flower colours may be related to stressful conditions. To fully understand the ecology and evolution of flower colour, we should incorporate the broad selective context that plants experience into research, rather than focusing primarily on effects of plant–pollinator interactions.
Twilight fighting in the evening brown butterfly, Melanitis leda (L.) (Nymphalidae): Age and residency effects
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-2003
Age-related site fidelity in the territorial butterfly Hypolimnas bolina (L.) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-02-2001
The Role of Coloration in Mate Choice and Sexual Interactions in Butterflies
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: 2011
John Alcock (1943-2023)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-05-2023
Additive genetic variation, but not temperature, influences warning signal expression in Amata nigriceps moths (Lepidoptera: Arctiinae)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-2022
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.9111
Abstract: Many aposematic species show variation in their color patterns even though selection by predators is expected to stabilize warning signals toward a common phenotype. Warning signal variability can be explained by trade‐offs with other functions of coloration, such as thermoregulation, that may constrain warning signal expression by favoring darker in iduals. Here, we investigated the effect of temperature on warning signal expression in aposematic Amata nigriceps moths that vary in their black and orange wing patterns. We s led moths from two flight seasons that differed in the environmental temperatures and also reared different families under controlled conditions at three different temperatures. Against our prediction that lower developmental temperatures would reduce the warning signal size of the adult moths, we found no effect of temperature on warning signal expression in either wild or laboratory‐reared moths. Instead, we found sex‐ and population‐level differences in wing patterns. Our rearing experiment indicated that ~70% of the variability in the trait is genetic but understanding what signaling and non‐signaling functions of wing coloration maintain the genetic variation requires further work. Our results emphasize the importance of considering both genetic and plastic components of warning signal expression when studying intraspecific variation in aposematic species.
Investigating the consistency of mate-locating behavior in the territorial butterfly Hypolimnas bolina (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 2001
Sexual selection constrained by life history in a butterfly
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 07-07-2002
Multimodal signalling
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2007
Captivating color: evidence for optimal stimulus design in a polymorphic prey lure
Publisher: Authorea, Inc.
Date: 27-11-2020
DOI: 10.22541/AU.160649117.73236330/V1
Abstract: Araneid spiders use abstract color patterns to attract prey. The chromatic properties of these displays vary extensively, both within and across species, and they are frequently polymorphic. Variation is often expressed in terms of signal hue (color per se), but it is unclear precisely how attractiveness scales with this property. We assessed captures among color-manipulated females of the dimorphic jeweled spider Gasteracantha fornicata in their natural webs. The manipulation magnified the natural variation in stimulus hue independently of chroma (saturation) across a range spanning most of the color spectrum. Catch rate varied across treatments in simple accordance with how greatly stimulus hue deviated from either of the two extant phenotypes. Predictions based upon fly-perceived background contrast were unsupported despite dipterans constituting ~60 % of prey. This study isolates the importance of stimulus hue and supports the premise that extant phenotypes reside in an optimal spectral range for prey attraction.
The effect of captive breeding upon adult thermal preference in the Queensland fruit fly (Bactrocera tryoni)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.JTHERBIO.2018.10.005
Abstract: The Queensland fruit fly (Bactrocera tryoni) is a generalist pest that poses a significant threat to the Australian horticultural industry. This species has become broadly established across latitudes that encompass tropical to temperate climates, and hence populations occupy erse thermal niches. Successful expansion across this range may have been brokered by evolutionarily labile features of breeding phenology, physiology and/or behaviour. We explored the potential role of behavioural flexibility by characterizing variation in adult thermal preference using a novel gradient apparatus. Flies oriented within this apparatus essentially at random in the absence of thermal variation, but sought and maintained precise positions when presented with an established gradient. Male and female flies from an 'old' colony (>300 generations) and a 'young' (F7) colony were compared. Whereas we found no difference between the sexes, flies from the young colony preferred higher temperatures (30.93 ± 7.30 °C) and had greater in idual variation than their counterparts from the old colony (28.16 ± 5.63 °C). Given that B. tryoni are routinely maintained at 25 °C in the laboratory, a lower mean preference of the old colony is consistent with thermal adaptation. This is further supported by their reduced phenotypic variance, which follows as a logical consequence of stabilising selection given long-term environmental constancy. These results demonstrate that B. tryoni seek to thermoregulate via adult behaviour, and that in idual temperature preference can be precisely measured using a gradient apparatus. The evidence for adaptive tuning of this behaviour has importance for both the design of captive rearing protocols as well as the prediction of invasive potential and species biogeography under future climatic variation.
Stress tolerance in a novel system
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-07-2016
DOI: 10.1111/AEC.12341
Gaping Displays Reveal and Amplify a Mechanically Based Index of Weapon Performance
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date: 07-2006
DOI: 10.1086/505161
Abstract: Physical prowess, a key determinant of fight outcomes, is contingent on whole-organism performance traits. The advertisement of performance, via display, is poorly understood because it is unclear how information about performance is encoded into display characteristics. Previous studies have shown that weapon performance (i.e., bite force) predicts dominance and reproductive success in male lizards. We tested the hypothesis that gaping displays by adult male collared lizards (Crotaphytus) can provide an index of weapon performance by exposing the major jaw-adductor muscle complex and that white patches at the mouth corners lify this index. For territorial adult males, the breadth of the muscle complex, which is not correlated with body size, was a strong predictor of bite force. For nonterritorial yearling males and females, however, measures of body and head size predicted bite force. The patches are highly conspicuous, exhibit UV-reflecting properties within the visual range of lizards, and provide size-independent information about bite force only in adult males. We conclude that exposure of the muscle complex during gaping displays can provide rival males with a reliable, body-size independent, biomechanically based index of weapon performance, an index that the mouth-corner patches lify. Indexes that transmit information through mechanistic links to performance are expected to be widespread among animals.
Variation in compound eye structure
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-03-2011
DOI: 10.1111/J.1558-5646.2011.01285.X
Abstract: Studies of compound eyes have revealed that variation in eye structure can substantially affect visual performance. Here, we investigate the degree to which a stressful rearing environment, which decreases body size, affects the eye phenotype. Full siblings of the Orange Sulphur butterfly, Colias eurytheme, were collected from known parents and split within families among two diet treatments that varied in quality. In both sexes, in iduals reared on the high-quality diet had larger eye height and anterior facet diameter, and therefore, by inference, superior vision. However, relative to their reduced body size, in iduals reared on low-quality diet had proportionally larger eyes and facets than in iduals reared on high-quality diet. We interpret this finding as evidence that butterflies encountering nutritional stress increased proportional investment in eye development to reduce loss of visual performance. We also found significant broad-sense genetic variation underlying eye structure in both males and females, and report novel heritability estimates for eye height and facet diameter. Surprisingly, there was greater genetic variation in eye height among males than among females, despite apparently stronger directional selection on male vision. We discuss the implications of these data for our understanding of eye development and evolution.
Is resting metabolic rate related to reproductive output in an orb‐web spider, Argiope radon ?
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-05-2020
DOI: 10.1111/EEN.12882
The hilltopping mating system of Leschenaultia adusta (Loew) (Diptera:Tachinidae)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-10-2006
Costly copulation in the wild
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 24-10-2012
Negative intersexual genetic correlation for colour pattern in a variable aposematic insect
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 05-05-2021
DOI: 10.1093/BIOLINNEAN/BLAB025
Abstract: Despite the fact their coloration functions as an aposematic signal, and is thus expected to be under stabilizing selection, hibiscus harlequin bugs (Tectocoris diophthalmus) show an impressive level of variation in their iridescent coloration both within and between populations. To date the heritability of coloration in this species remains unknown. Here we focus on a single population in New South Wales (the southern part of this species’ Australian range), with the greatest colour variation. We reared full-sib families of known pedigree in the laboratory and analysed the extent of iridescent coloration at adulthood. We then looked for evidence of heritability, condition dependence and antagonistic sexual selection acting on colour in this species. We found significant heritability in the extent of iridescent coloration for both sexes, as well as in development time and body size, but no evidence that condition dependence played a role in the determination of adult coloration. There was, however, a sex by genotype interaction for iridescent cover, in the form of a negative intersexual genetic correlation: in families where sons had high iridescent cover the daughters had low, and vice versa. Our results suggest that different selective pressures may act on coloration in males and females of this species.
The boy can dance: ritual courtship of the opal cling goby
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1071/PC19020
Abstract: Field-based video recording of courtship between a male and female Stiphodon semoni (Family Gobiidae), afforded the opportunity to discern specific behaviours not reported of sicydiine gobies previously, including tail-wagging and kiss-like behaviour by the male. Furthermore, a subset of behaviours that resemble those from published reports of other sicydiines in courtship and a subset of behaviours that are analogous to those exhibited by guppies (Poecilia reticulata, Family Poeciliidae) are reported and discussed briefly and used to contend that sicydiines are ripe for detailed study of sexual signalling behaviour in fishes.
Color Polymorphism in Spiny Spiders (Gasteracantha fornicata): Testing the Adaptive Significance of a Geographically Clinal Lure
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-10-2013
DOI: 10.1111/ETH.12172
Ageing, reproductive value, and the evolution of lifetime fighting behaviour
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 08-2006
An Integrative Framework for the Appraisal of Coloration in Nature
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date: 06-2015
DOI: 10.1086/681021
Abstract: The world in color presents a dazzling dimension of phenotypic variation. Biological interest in this variation has burgeoned, due to both increased means for quantifying spectral information and heightened appreciation for how animals view the world differently than humans. Effective study of color traits is challenged by how to best quantify visual perception in nonhuman species. This requires consideration of at least visual physiology but ultimately also the neural processes underlying perception. Our knowledge of color perception is founded largely on the principles gained from human psychophysics that have proven generalizable based on comparative studies in select animal models. Appreciation of these principles, their empirical foundation, and the reasonable limits to their applicability is crucial to reaching informed conclusions in color research. In this article, we seek a common intellectual basis for the study of color in nature. We first discuss the key perceptual principles, namely, retinal photoreception, sensory channels, opponent processing, color constancy, and receptor noise. We then draw on this basis to inform an analytical framework driven by the research question in relation to identifiable viewers and visual tasks of interest. Consideration of the limits to perceptual inference guides two primary decisions: first, whether a sensory-based approach is necessary and justified and, second, whether the visual task refers to perceptual distance or discriminability. We outline informed approaches in each situation and discuss key challenges for future progress, focusing particularly on how animals perceive color. Given that animal behavior serves as both the basic unit of psychophysics and the ultimate driver of color ecology/evolution, behavioral data are critical to reconciling knowledge across the schools of color research.
Ultraviolet ornamentation and male mating success in a high-density assemblage of the butterfly Colias eurytheme
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-10-2006
Colour and luminance contrasts predict the human detection of natural stimuli in complex visual environments
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 09-2017
Abstract: Much of what we know about human colour perception has come from psychophysical studies conducted in tightly-controlled laboratory settings. An enduring challenge, however, lies in extrapolating this knowledge to the noisy conditions that characterize our actual visual experience. Here we combine statistical models of visual perception with empirical data to explore how chromatic (hue/saturation) and achromatic (luminant) information underpins the detection and classification of stimuli in a complex forest environment. The data best support a simple linear model of stimulus detection as an additive function of both luminance and saturation contrast. The strength of each predictor is modest yet consistent across gross variation in viewing conditions, which accords with expectation based upon general primate psychophysics. Our findings implicate simple visual cues in the guidance of perception amidst natural noise, and highlight the potential for informing human vision via a fusion between psychophysical modelling and real-world behaviour.
Roses are red, violets are blue - so how much replication should you do? An assessment of variation in the colour of flowers and birds
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 17-10-2014
DOI: 10.1111/BIJ.12402
The perceptual similarity of orb-spider prey lures and flower colours
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 19-11-2016
Potential impacts of a future persistent El Nino or La Nina on three subspecies of Australian butterflies
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-07-2017
DOI: 10.1111/BTP.12356
Female butterflies prefer males bearing bright iridescent ornamentation
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 06-02-2007
Abstract: Butterflies are among nature's most colourful animals, and provide a living showcase for how extremely bright, chromatic and iridescent coloration can be generated by complex optical mechanisms. The gross characteristics of male butterfly colour patterns are understood to function for species and/or sex recognition, but it is not known whether female mate choice promotes visual exaggeration of this coloration. Here I show that females of the sexually dichromatic species Hypolimnas bolina prefer conspecific males that possess bright iridescent blue/ultraviolet dorsal ornamentation. In separate field and enclosure experiments, using both dramatic and graded wing colour manipulations, I demonstrate that a moderate qualitative reduction in signal brightness and chromaticity has the same consequences as removing the signal entirely. These findings validate a long-held hypothesis, and argue for the importance of intra- versus interspecific selection as the driving force behind the exaggeration of bright, iridescent butterfly colour patterns.
A Clearer View from Fuzzy Images
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 27-01-2012
Abstract: Jumping spiders use defocus as a gauge of depth perception to locate prey.
Contest behaviour in the speckled wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 11-10-2006
Mechanisms of Color Production in a Highly Variable Shield-Back Stinkbug, Tectocoris diopthalmus (Heteroptera: Scutelleridae), and Why It Matters
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 07-05-2013
Low genetic variation in cold tolerance linked to species distributions in butterflies
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-11-2013
Color polymorphic lures target different visual channels in prey
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2016
DOI: 10.1111/EVO.12948
Abstract: Selection for signal efficacy in variable environments may favor color polymorphism, but little is known about this possibility outside of sexual systems. Here we used the color polymorphic orb-web spider Gasteracantha fornicata, whose yellow- or white-banded dorsal signal attracts dipteran prey, to test the hypothesis that morphs may be tuned to optimize either chromatic or achromatic conspicuousness in their visually noisy forest environments. We used data from extensive observations of naturally existing spiders and precise assessments of visual environments to model signal conspicuousness according to dipteran vision. Modeling supported a distinct bias in the chromatic (yellow morph) or achromatic (white morph) contrast presented by spiders at the times when they caught prey, as opposed to all other times at which they may be viewed. Hence, yellow spiders were most successful when their signal produced maximum color contrast against viewing backgrounds, whereas white spiders were most successful when they presented relatively greatest luminance contrast. Further modeling across a hypothetical range of lure variation confirmed that yellow versus white signals should, respectively, enhance chromatic versus achromatic conspicuousness to flies, in G. fornicata's visual environments. These findings suggest that color polymorphism may be adaptively maintained by selection for conspicuousness within different visual channels in receivers.
Birds, butterflies and flowers in the tropics are not more colourful than those at higher latitudes
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-09-2015
DOI: 10.1111/GEB.12368
Conspicuousness of Dickerson's collared lizard (Crotaphytus dickersonae) through the eyes of conspecifics and predators
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 23-07-2009
The nanoanatomical basis of sexual dimorphism in iridescent butterfly colouration
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2012
DOI: 10.1071/ZO12045
Abstract: Structurally generated colours are at least as commonplace and varied components of animal signals as pigment colours, yet we know far less about the former, both in terms of the patterns and phenotypic variation and of their underlying correlates and causes. Many butterflies exhibit bright and iridescent colour signals that arise from a characteristic ‘ridge-lamellar’ scale surface nanoarchitecture. Although there are multiple axes of functional variation in these traits, few have been investigated. Here we present evidence that sexual dimorphism in the expression of a sexually homologous ridge-lamellar trait (iridescent ultraviolet) is mediated by sex differences in the density of lamellar-bearing scale ridges. This trait – ridge density – has also been causally related to iridescent signal variation in other coliadines (e.g. C. eurytheme), which suggests that it may offer a common basis to both intra- and intersexual differences in ultraviolet wing reflectance among these butterflies.
Unraveling the true complexity of costly color signaling
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 12-12-2011
Predatory chemical cues decrease attack time and increase metabolic rate in an orb-web spider
Publisher: The Company of Biologists
Date: 2019
DOI: 10.1242/JEB.212738
Abstract: Animals are able to assess the risk of predation and respond accordingly via behavioural and physiological changes. Web-building spiders are in the unique situation where they reside in the middle of their web and are therefore relatively exposed to predators. Thus, these spiders might moderate either their web-building behaviour or their behaviour on the web when exposed to the threat of predation. In this study, we experimentally explored how predatory chemical cues influence foraging behaviour and metabolic rate in female of the orb-web spider, Argiope keyserlingi. We found that female spiders restricted their foraging time budget when exposed to the predatory cues from a praying mantid: they responded 11 percent and 17 percent quicker to a vibratory stimulus compare to control and non-predator cues, respectively, and spent less time handling the prey. Moreover, spiders were less likely to rebuild the web under predatory cues. Female A. keyserlingi exposed to the praying mantid cue significantly elevated their metabolic rate compared to the control group. Our findings revealed short-term modifications over two weeks of the trials in foraging behaviour and physiology of female spiders in response to predator cues. This study suggests that under predator cues the spiders move quicker and this could be facilitated by elevation in metabolic rate. Reduced foraging activity and less frequent web repair/rebuilding would also reduce the spiders’ exposure to praying mantid predators.
Signal design and courtship presentation coincide for highly biased delivery of an iridescent butterfly mating signal
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-12-2014
DOI: 10.1111/EVO.12551
Ornamental evolution in Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata): insights from sensory processing-based analyses of entire colour patterns
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 19-11-2008
Female mating biases for bright ultraviolet iridescence in the butterfly Eurema hecabe (Pieridae)
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 10-10-2008
Multimodal signalling
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2007
A survival cost to mating in a polyandrous butterfly, Colias eurytheme
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-03-2004
Genotype-environment interaction reveals varied developmental responses to unpredictable host phenology in a tropical insect
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-04-2021
DOI: 10.1111/EVO.14218
The scramble competition mating system of the sphecid wasp Palmodes praestans (Kohl)
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-09-2005
The genetic basis of discrete and quantitative colour variation in the polymorphic lizard, Ctenophorus decresii
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-09-2016
Stress-mediated covariance between nano-structural architecture and ultraviolet butterfly coloration
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-2006
Mating success of resident versus non-resident males in a territorial butterfly
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 05-2007
Abstract: Male–male competition over territorial ownership suggests that winning is associated with considerable benefits. In the speckled wood butterfly, Pararge aegeria , males fight over sunspot territories on the forest floor winners gain sole residency of a sunspot, whereas losers patrol the forest in search of females. It is currently not known whether residents experience greater mating success than non-residents, or whether mating success is contingent on environmental conditions. Here we performed an experiment in which virgin females of P. aegeria were allowed to choose between a resident and a non-resident male in a large enclosure containing one territorial sunspot. Resident males achieved approximately twice as many matings as non-residents, primarily because matings were most often preceded by a female being discovered when flying through a sunspot. There was no evidence that territorial residents were more attractive per se , with females seen to reject them as often as non-residents. Furthermore, in the cases where females were discovered outside of the sunspot, they were just as likely to mate with non-residents as residents. We hypothesize that the proximate advantage of territory ownership is that light conditions in a large sunspot greatly increase the male's ability to detect and intercept passing receptive females.
Female iridescent colour ornamentation in a butterfly that displays mutual ornamentation
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2017
Spider lures exploit insect preferences for floral colour and symmetry
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 08-05-2020
The behavioral significance of male body size in the tarantula hawk wasp Hemipepsis ustulata (Hymenoptera:Pompilidae)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-06-2006
Life History Effects Upon Contest Behaviour: Age as a Predictor of Territorial Contest Dynamics in Two Populations of the Speckled Wood Butterfly, Pararge aegeria L.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-02-2006
Habitat selection and territoriality
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Date: 20-09-2018
DOI: 10.1093/OSO/9780198797500.003.0006
Abstract: Insects dominate virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats on earth. This chapter reviews insect habitat selection, focusing on the occupation and defence of mating sites. First the adaptive basis of mating systems, sex roles, and behaviors in regard to habitat are established, then site occupation and defence in territorial species is explored. Resource-holding potential and resource value are discussed for how they determine aggressive motivation, as well as how contestants seek to gauge such parameters, with particular attention to the role of convention, drawing upon exemplar studies in damselflies and butterflies that have provided a narrative between theory and empiricism. Conventional and/or plastic behaviors are also discussed in terms of the presence and certainty of contestant roles, encompassing phenomena, such as residency confusion, nasty neighbours and interloper effects. The chapter concludes by discussing future avenues, foremost among which is the opportunity to synthesize empirical data across taxa.
Male guppies differ in daily frequency but not diel pattern of display under daily light changes
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 11-2019
Exploring the perceptual canvas of signal evolution: comment on Kelley and Kelley
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 22-03-2014
Captivating color: evidence for optimal stimulus design in a polymorphic prey lure
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 15-05-2022
Abstract: Many species – humans included – employ color as an instrument of deception. One intriguing ex le of this resides in the conspicuous abstract color patterns displayed on the bodies of female orb weaving spiders. These displays increase prey interception rates and thereby function at least as visual lures. Their chromatic properties however vary extensively, both across and within species, with discrete forms often co-existing in the manner of a stable polymorphism. Variation is principally expressed in terms of signal hue (color per se), but it is unclear how attractiveness scales with this property and if extant morphs are maximally attractive relative to a graded range of potential alternatives. We examined these questions by assessing catch rates among color-manipulated females of the dimorphic jeweled spider Gasteracantha fornicata in their natural webs. The manipulation altered dorsal appearance in a manner akin to adding six new variants of their existing white/yellow phenotypes. This magnified the natural variation in stimulus hue independently of chroma (saturation) across a range spanning most of the color spectrum. Catch rate varied across treatments in simple accordance with how greatly stimulus hue deviated from either of the two extant spider phenotypes. Predictions based on fly-perceived chromatic and achromatic background contrast were clearly unsupported despite dipterans constituting ~60 % of identifiable prey. This study supports the importance of signal coloration per se in G. fornicata and suggests that extant lure phenotypes reside in a broadly optimal spectral range for stimulating their aggregate prey community.
Maternal care behaviour and kin discrimination in the subsocial bug T ectocoris diophthalmus (H emiptera: S cutelleridae)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-09-2015
DOI: 10.1111/AEN.12164
Spatial and temporal patterns of territorial mate locating behaviour in Hypolimnas bolina (L.) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2001
Colour polymorphic lures exploit innate preferences for spectral versus luminance cues in dipteran prey
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-08-2017
Behavioural thermoregulation in butterflies: The interacting effects of body size and basking posture in Hypolimnas bolina (L.) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2004
DOI: 10.1071/ZO03043
Abstract: The evolutionary significance of body size variation in male insects is often obscure. One way in which this parameter could affect reproductive success is via its relevance to thermoregulation. In this study we investigated the relevance of body size to heat exchange rates in a tropical nymphalid, the common eggfly (Hypolimnas bolina) (L.). Males of this territorial species elevate their body temperature above ambient levels via a series of basking postures coupled with strategic choice of perching microhabitat. In an experiment with dead butterfly models we found, as expected, heightened rates of heat exchange (heating and cooling rates) in smaller in iduals. There was also a significant interaction between basking posture and body size, with smaller in iduals exhibiting significantly greater variation in heating rate across all available basking postures. This suggests that smaller males would have greater control over their rate of basking heat gain (by having at their disposal a greater potential range of heating rates), but they would also radiate body heat at a higher rate than their larger conspecifics. Using 'grab and stab' techniques, we found no evidence that smaller in iduals are closer to their putative thermal optimum under a range of ambient conditions in the field. However, a more substantive field program, incorporating a more precise characterisation of the ambient thermal environment, will be required to fully evaluate the thermal significance of body size variation in males of this territorial butterfly.
Diversity in structural ultraviolet coloration among female sulphur butterflies (Coliadinae, Pieridae)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2007
DOI: 10.1016/J.ASD.2006.11.005
Abstract: In some species of sulphur butterflies (Pieridae: Coliadinae) females as well as males display bright structural reflectance on their dorsal wing surfaces, although comparatively little attention has been paid to this coloration in females. We examined the spectral properties of female dorsal coloration and scale structure in three species of sulphurs for which published images show bright UV reflectance in females: the Neotropical Anteos clorinde and two species of Indo-Australian Eurema, E. hecabe and E. candida. In A. clorinde and E. hecabe, female UV reflectance is iridescent and produced by thin film interference in a system of ridges and lamellae, as it is in conspecific males. Female A. clorinde exhibit the same spatial distribution and chromaticity of UV reflectance as seen in males, but the UV reflectance in female E. hecabe is much smaller in area compared to that of conspecific males and is both less bright and less chromatic than observed in males. In contrast, UV reflectance in E. candida females is diffuse, and arises from a lack of pterin pigments in the wings, which permits a broad-band scattered reflection to be seen. This is the mechanism that is known to produce bright UV reflectance in females of the confamilial whites. Our results highlight the ersity of UV reflectances and underlying mechanisms in sulphurs and suggest multiple evolutionary pathways leading to this ersity in female sulphur butterflies.
The ecology of female receptivity in the territorial butterfly Hypolimnas bolina (L.) (Nymphalidae): Implications for mate location by males
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2001
DOI: 10.1071/ZO01027
Abstract: Many male insects aggressively defend specific perching sites containing larval resources. There are three main explanations for how this behaviour could contribute to increased matings: perching males may aim to encounter (1) eclosing or freshly eclosed virgin females, (2) previously mated, ovipositing females, or (3) receptive females that visit these sites either specifically to mate or for other reasons. I evaluated these hypotheses by investigating the timing of post-eclosion female receptivity and the extent of polyandry within an Australian population of the butterfly Hypolimnas bolina (L.) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). This species represents the group of butterflies in which males defend specific, geographically prominent, sites that overlap with the distribution of larval resources. Freshly emerged female H. bolina refrained from mating until their ovaries were close to maturation, resulting in a pre-mating period of 4–8 days. The presence of this substantial refractory period rules out the hypothesis that males defend pupation sites with the aim of mating with eclosing or freshly eclosed females. Secondly, almost 90% of females within the studied population carried only one spermatophore, a finding that mediates against the possibility that most perching males target (already mated) ovipositing females. The ‘rendezvous-site’ hypothesis is the most likely general explanation for territoriality in H. bolina however, it remains unclear whether the distribution of larval hostplants per se has a primary influence on territory selection by males in this species.
Extreme short-term repeatability of male courtship performance in a tropical orb-web spider
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 2014
Sequential size assessment and multicomponent decision rules mediate aerial wasp contests
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2006
Male mating bias and its potential reproductive consequence in the butterfly Colias eurytheme
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-10-2007
How to generate and test hypotheses about colour: insights from half a century of guppy research
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 07-06-2023
Abstract: Coloration facilitates evolutionary investigations in nature because the interaction between genotype, phenotype and environment is relatively accessible. In a landmark set of studies, Endler addressed this complexity by demonstrating that the evolution of male Trinidadian guppy coloration is shaped by the local balance between selection for mate attractiveness versus crypsis. This became a textbook paradigm for how antagonistic selective pressures may determine evolutionary trajectories in nature. However, recent studies have challenged the generality of this paradigm. Here, we respond to these challenges by reviewing five important yet underappreciated factors that contribute to colour pattern evolution: (i) among-population variation in female preference and correlated variation in male coloration, (ii) differences in how predators versus conspecifics view males, (iii) biased assessment of pigmentary versus structural coloration, (iv) the importance of accounting for multi-species predator communities, and (v) the importance of considering the multivariate genetic architecture and multivariate context of selection and how sexual selection encourages polymorphic ergence. We elaborate these issues using two challenging papers. Our purpose is not to criticize but to point out the potential pitfalls in colour research and to emphasize the depth of consideration necessary for testing evolutionary hypotheses using complex multi-trait phenotypes such as guppy colour patterns.
A novel method of behavioural thermoregulation in butterflies
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-10-2002
Resource-mediated condition dependence in sexually dichromatic butterfly wing coloration
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-2008
DOI: 10.1111/J.1558-5646.2008.00461.X
Abstract: Theory predicts that traits subject to strong sexual selection should evolve to be more exaggerated and developmentally integrated than nonsexual traits, thus leading to heightened condition dependence. Until recently, however, efforts to evaluate this prediction have suffered from either a purely correlational (nonmanipulative) approach, or from using manipulations of doubtful ecological relevance. Here I address these issues by integrating observation and manipulation to study condition- and sex-related color variation in a butterfly. The focal species, Eurema hecabe (Pieridae), possesses three sexually homologous and morphogenetically discrete dorsal wing color elements-coherently scattered ultraviolet (UV), pteridine yellow, and melaninic black. The UV is most strongly sexually selected, and is also the only color element with restricted distribution across female wings. Condition dependence and sexual dichromatism were pervasive, characterizing all color traits except the melanic black, and acting such that low condition males resembled high condition females. Although female coloration tended to exhibit greater phenotypic variation, size-scaled UV was more variable and condition dependent in males. Importantly, manipulation of larval resources was sufficient to closely reconstruct the extent and patterns of field-observed phenotypic variation in condition, and color trait expression, which implicates larval resource acquisition as a primary driver of condition dependence. These results support theories regarding phenotypic variation in sexually selected traits.
Butterfly growth and development
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 2005
Integrating functional and evolutionary approaches to the study of color-based animal signals
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-11-2015
Variation in boldness behaviour across individuals, sexes and strains of the guppy (Poecilia reticulata)
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 04-02-2022
DOI: 10.1071/MF21129
Abstract: The concept of animal personality is based on consistent in idual differences in behaviour, yet little is known about the factors responsible for such variation. Theory based on sex-specific selection predicts sexual dimorphism in personality-related traits and, in some cases, differences in trait variances between the sexes. In this study, we examined the sources of in idual variation for boldness behaviour in guppies (Poecilia reticulata). We first demonstrated heightened boldness expression in males relative to females across feral wild types, artificially selected domestic ‘designer’ guppies, and putative hybrids of the two. Boldness and body size covaried at the strain level but were not associated among in iduals within strains. We also found high and repeatable behavioural differences among in iduals (0.40 intraclass r 0.60) in all sex/strain groups except hybrid strain females. However, there was no evidence for the heightened inter-in idual male variance anticipated for personality traits subject to certain forms of directional sex-specific selection. Domestic fish were boldest overall, and indicated the largest sex difference, which is consistent with genetic linkage between boldness and male ornamental colouration. Consistently high intrinsic variation in boldness behaviour, which extends to inbred domesticated fish, may in part underpin the invasive potential of this species.
Visual mate-searching behaviour in the evening brown butterfly, Melanitis leda (L.) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 10-2002
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