Habitat structure drives the evolution of aerial displays in birds

• Ano de defesa: 2019
• Autor(a) principal: Menezes, João Carnio Teles de
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Biblioteca Digitais de Teses e Dissertações da USP
• Palavras-chave em Português: Análise filogenética comparativa; Animal communication; Comunicação animal; Courtship display; Display de corte; Favorecimento sensorial; Gestural signal; Macroevolução; Macroevolution; Passeriformes; Phylogenetic comparative analysis; Seleção sexual; Sensory drive; Sexual selection; Sinal motor
• Link de acesso: http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/41/41134/tde-07052019-154036/

Physical properties of the environment may shape signalling traits by determining how effective signals are in influencing the behaviour of other individuals. Evidence abounds of signalling environment driving the evolution of colours and sounds, yet little is known about its influence upon gestural displays. Here, we performed a continent-wide phylogenetic comparative analysis to test the hypothesis that habitat structure drives the evolution of aerial sexual displays in passerine birds. We found that aerial displays are seven times more likely to evolve in open-habitat passerines than in forest ones, likely as a result of physical properties that allow aerial displays to transmit more broadly in open habitats. Our results provide an emblematic example of how environmental factors may help predict the direction of evolution of otherwise unpredictable sexual traits. The broader range of aerial displays in open habitats may also mean that females can sample more males, potentially leading to more intense sexual selection in open-habitat, aerial-displaying males