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Broder ED, Elias DO, Rodríguez RL, Rosenthal GG, Seymoure BM, Tinghitella RM. Evolutionary novelty in communication between the sexes. Biol Lett 2021; 17:20200733. [PMID: 33529546 PMCID: PMC8086948 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0733] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2020] [Accepted: 01/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The diversity of signalling traits within and across taxa is vast and striking, prompting us to consider how novelty evolves in the context of animal communication. Sexual selection contributes to diversification, and here we endeavour to understand the initial conditions that facilitate the maintenance or elimination of new sexual signals and receiver features. New sender and receiver variants can occur through mutation, plasticity, hybridization and cultural innovation, and the initial conditions of the sender, the receiver and the environment then dictate whether a novel cue becomes a signal. New features may arise in the sender, the receiver or both simultaneously. We contend that it may be easier than assumed to evolve new sexual signals because sexual signals may be arbitrary, sexual conflict is common and receivers are capable of perceiving much more of the world than just existing sexual signals. Additionally, changes in the signalling environment can approximate both signal and receiver changes through a change in transmission characteristics of a given environment or the use of new environments. The Anthropocene has led to wide-scale disruption of the environment and may thus generate opportunity to directly observe the evolution of new signals to address questions that are beyond the reach of phylogenetic approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- E. Dale Broder
- Department of Biology, St Ambrose University, Davenport, IA 52803, USA
| | - Damian O. Elias
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Rafael L. Rodríguez
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA
| | - Gil G. Rosenthal
- Department of Biology, Texas A&M, College Station, TX 77843, USA
| | - Brett M. Seymoure
- Living Earth Collaborative, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA
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Crampton WGR. Electroreception, electrogenesis and electric signal evolution. JOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY 2019; 95:92-134. [PMID: 30729523 DOI: 10.1111/jfb.13922] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2018] [Accepted: 02/05/2019] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Electroreception, the capacity to detect external underwater electric fields with specialised receptors, is a phylogenetically widespread sensory modality in fishes and amphibians. In passive electroreception, a capacity possessed by c. 16% of fish species, an animal uses low-frequency-tuned ampullary electroreceptors to detect microvolt-range bioelectric fields from prey, without the need to generate its own electric field. In active electroreception (electrolocation), which occurs only in the teleost lineages Mormyroidea and Gymnotiformes, an animal senses its surroundings by generating a weak (< 1 V) electric-organ discharge (EOD) and detecting distortions in the EOD-associated field using high-frequency-tuned tuberous electroreceptors. Tuberous electroreceptors also detect the EODs of neighbouring fishes, facilitating electrocommunication. Several other groups of elasmobranchs and teleosts generate weak (< 10 V) or strong (> 50 V) EODs that facilitate communication or predation, but not electrolocation. Approximately 1.5% of fish species possess electric organs. This review has two aims. First, to synthesise our knowledge of the functional biology and phylogenetic distribution of electroreception and electrogenesis in fishes, with a focus on freshwater taxa and with emphasis on the proximate (morphological, physiological and genetic) bases of EOD and electroreceptor diversity. Second, to describe the diversity, biogeography, ecology and electric signal diversity of the mormyroids and gymnotiforms and to explore the ultimate (evolutionary) bases of signal and receptor diversity in their convergent electrogenic-electrosensory systems. Four sets of potential drivers or moderators of signal diversity are discussed. First, selective forces of an abiotic (environmental) nature for optimal electrolocation and communication performance of the EOD. Second, selective forces of a biotic nature targeting the communication function of the EOD, including sexual selection, reproductive interference from syntopic heterospecifics and selection from eavesdropping predators. Third, non-adaptive drift and, finally, phylogenetic inertia, which may arise from stabilising selection for optimal signal-receptor matching.
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Picq S, Alda F, Bermingham E, Krahe R. Drift-driven evolution of electric signals in a Neotropical knifefish. Evolution 2016; 70:2134-44. [PMID: 27436179 DOI: 10.1111/evo.13010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2015] [Revised: 04/12/2016] [Accepted: 07/11/2016] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Communication signals are highly diverse traits. This diversity is usually assumed to be shaped by selective forces, whereas the null hypothesis of divergence through drift is often not considered. In Panama, the weakly electric fish Brachyhypopomus occidentalis is widely distributed in multiple independent drainage systems, which provide a natural evolutionary laboratory for the study of genetic and signal divergence in separate populations. We quantified geographic variation in the electric signals of 109 fish from five populations, and compared it to the neutral genetic variation estimated from cytochrome oxidase I (COI) sequences of the same individuals, to test whether drift may be driving divergence of their signals. Signal distances were highly correlated with genetic distances, even after controlling for geographic distances, suggesting that drift alone is sufficient to explain geographic variation in electric signals. Significant differences at smaller geographic scales (within drainages) showed, however, that electric signals may evolve at a faster rate than expected under drift, raising the possibility that additional adaptive forces may be contributing to their evolution. Overall, our data point to stochastic forces as main drivers of signal evolution in this species and extend the role of drift in the evolution of communication systems to fish and electrocommunication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie Picq
- Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1B1, Canada. .,Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092 Balboa, Ancón, Republic of Panama. .,Current Address: GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Evolutionary Ecology of Marine Fishes, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, Kiel, 24105, Germany.
| | - Fernando Alda
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092 Balboa, Ancón, Republic of Panama.,Current Address: Museum of Natural Science, Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, 119 Foster Hall, Baton Rouge, LA
| | - Eldredge Bermingham
- Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1B1, Canada.,Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092 Balboa, Ancón, Republic of Panama.,Current Address: Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science, 3280 South Miami Avenue, Miami, FL
| | - Rüdiger Krahe
- Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1B1, Canada
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Robillard T, Montealegre-Z F, Desutter-Grandcolas L, Grandcolas P, Robert D. Mechanisms of high frequency song generation in brachypterous crickets and the role of ghost frequencies. J Exp Biol 2013; 216:2001-11. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.083964] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Summary
Sound production in crickets relies on stridulation, the well-understood rubbing together of a pair of specialised wings. As the file of one wing slides over the scraper of the other, a series of rhythmic impacts cause harmonic oscillations, usually resulting in the radiation of pure tones delivered at low frequencies (2-8 kHz). In the short winged crickets of the Lebinthini tribe, acoustic communication relies on signals with remarkably high frequencies (> 8 kHz) and rich harmonic content. Using several species of the subfamily Eneopterinae, we characterise the morphological and mechanical specialisations supporting the production of high frequencies, and demonstrate that higher harmonics are exploited as dominant frequencies. These specialisations affect the structure of the stridulatory file, the motor control of stridulation and the resonance of the sound radiator. We place these specialisations in a phylogenetic framework and show that they serve to exploit high frequency vibrational modes pre-existing in the phylogenetic ancestor. In Eneopterinae, the lower frequency components are harmonically related to the dominant peak, suggesting they are relicts of ancestral carrier frequencies. Yet, such ghost frequencies still occur in the wings' free resonances, highlighting the fundamental mechanical constraints of sound radiation. These results support the hypothesis that such high frequency songs evolved stepwise, by a form of punctuated evolution which could be related to functional constraints, rather than by the progressive increase of the ancestral fundamental frequency.
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Teimori A, Esmaeili HR, Gholami Z, Zarei N, Reichenbacher B. Aphanius arakensis, a new species of tooth-carp (Actinopterygii, Cyprinodontidae) from the endorheic Namak Lake basin in Iran. Zookeys 2012; 215:55-76. [PMID: 22936871 PMCID: PMC3428789 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.215.1731] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2011] [Accepted: 07/17/2012] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
A new species of tooth-carp, Aphanius arakensissp. n., is described from the Namak Lake basin in Iran. The new species is distinguished by the congeners distributed in Iran by the following combination of characters: 10-12 anal fin rays, 28-32 lateral line scales, 10-13 caudal peduncle scales, 8-10 gill rakers, 12-19, commonly 15-16, clearly defined flank bars in males, a more prominent pigmentation along the flank added by relatively big blotches in the middle and posterior flank segments in females, a short but high antirostrum of the otolith that has a wide excisura, and a ventral rim with some small, drop-like processes, and 19 molecular apomorphies (17 transitions, two transversions) in the cytochrome b gene. It was suggested based on the phylogenetic analysis that the new species is sister to Aphanius sophiae from the Kor River and that Aphanius farsicus from the Maharlu Lake basin is sister to Aphanius arakensis plus Aphanius sophiae. A noticeable feature of the Aphanius diversity in Iran is the conservatism of the external morphology as well as morphometric and meristic characters, while distinctive differences are present in genetic characters, otolith morphology, and male color pattern. Transformation of the latter was probably driven by sexual selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Azad Teimori
- Department of Earth- and Environmental Sciences, Palaeontology & Geobiology & GeoBio-CenterLMU, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Richard-Wagner-Strasse 10, D-80333 Munich, Germany
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Shahid-Bahonar University of Kerman 22 Bahman Blvd. Kerman, 76169-14111 Iran
| | - Hamid Reza Esmaeili
- Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz 71454, Iran
| | - Zeinab Gholami
- Department of Earth- and Environmental Sciences, Palaeontology & Geobiology & GeoBio-CenterLMU, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Richard-Wagner-Strasse 10, D-80333 Munich, Germany
| | - Neda Zarei
- Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz 71454, Iran
| | - Bettina Reichenbacher
- Department of Earth- and Environmental Sciences, Palaeontology & Geobiology & GeoBio-CenterLMU, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Richard-Wagner-Strasse 10, D-80333 Munich, Germany
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Crampton WGR, Lovejoy NR, Waddell JC. Reproductive character displacement and signal ontogeny in a sympatric assemblage of electric fish. Evolution 2011; 65:1650-66. [PMID: 21644955 DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01245.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
The reproductive signals of two or more taxa may diverge in areas of sympatry, due to selection against costly reproductive interference. This divergence, termed reproductive character displacement (RCD), is expected in species-rich assemblages, where interspecific signal partitioning among closely related species is common. However, RCD is usually documented from simple two-taxon cases, via geographical tests for greater divergence of reproductive traits in sympatry than in allopatry. We propose a novel approach to recognizing and understanding RCD in multi-species communities--one that traces the displacement of signals within multivariate signal space during the ontogeny of individual animals. We argue that a case for RCD can be made if the amount of signal displacement between a pair of species after maturation is negatively correlated to distance in signal space before maturation. Our application of this approach, using a dataset of communication signals from a sympatric Amazonian assemblage of the electric fish genus Gymnotus, provides strong evidence for RCD among multiple species. We argue that RCD arose from the costs of heterospecific mismating, but interacted with sexual selection--favoring the evolution of conspicuous male signals that not only serve for mate-choice, but which simultaneously facilitate species recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- William G R Crampton
- Department of Biology, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Boulevard, Orlando, 32816-2368 Florida, USA.
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