Journal
EVOLUTION
Volume 71, Issue 4, Pages 1061-1074Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1111/evo.13196
Keywords
Avian visual model; female plumage coloration; plumage complexity; tanagers; sexual dichromatism; ultraviolet coloration
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Funding
- National Science Foundation [IBN-0217817, DEB-0315416, DEB-1354006]
- Ornithological Research Award from the Los Angeles Audubon Society
- American Ornithologists' Union Research Award
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship [2008074713]
- Division Of Environmental Biology
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1354006] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Males and females can be under different evolutionary pressures if sexual and natural selection is differentially operating in each sex. As a result, many species have evolved sexual dichromatism, or differences in coloration between sexes. Although sexual dichromatism is often used as an index of the magnitude of sexual selection, sexual dichromatism is a composite trait. Here, we examine the evolution of sexual dichromatism in one of the largest and most ecologically diverse families of birds, the tanagers, using the avian visual perspective and a species-level phylogeny. Our results demonstrate that the evolutionary decreases of sexual dichromatism are more often associated with larger and more frequent changes in male plumage coloration, and evolutionary increases are not more often associated with larger changes in either sex. Furthermore, we show that the crown and ventral plumage regions are correlated with sexual dichromatism in males, and that only male plumage complexity is positively correlated with sexual dichromatism. Finally, we demonstrate that light environment is important in shaping both plumage brilliance and complexity. By conducting a multilevel analysis of plumage evolution in males and females, we show that sexual dichromatism evolves via a mosaic of sexual and natural selection in both sexes.
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