Biology

Variation in allometry along the weapon-signal continuum

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Structures used in intrasexual competition span a continuum, with pure weapons that are used exclusively in physical fights at one extreme and pure aggressive signals that are used exclusively to assess and threaten rivals at the other. We propose this weapon-signal continuum offers a framework for understanding the variation in allometric slopes among intra-sexually selected structures. We predict allometric slopes will become steeper as the relative importance of signaling increases, because aggressive signaling will favor the evolution of hypervariable structures that facilitate the assessment of subtle differences in body size. We provide preliminary empirical support for the continuum hypothesis using species with different types of armaments and offer suggestions for how to test the weapon-signal continuum among closely related species.

Publication Title

Evolutionary Ecology

Publication Date

8-2022

Volume

36

Issue

4

First Page

591

Last Page

604

ISSN

0269-7653

DOI

10.1007/s10682-022-10158-9

Keywords

allometry, armament, male-male competition, scaling, sexual selection, weapon

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