6533b863fe1ef96bd12c7d1e
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Weak warning signals can persist in the absence of gene flow.
Lawrence J PRojas BibianaFouquet AntoineMappes JohannaBlanchette AnneliseSaporito Ralph ABosque Renan JankeCourtois Elodie ANoonan Brice Psubject
Gene FlowunpalatabilityBehavior AnimalEvolutionfood and beveragesGenetic VariationBiological SciencesBiological EvolutionModels BiologicalpolymorphismAnimal Communicationfrequency-dependent selectionGenetics PopulationPhenotypePNAS PlusPredatory BehaviorAvoidance LearningAnimalsaposematismAnuraChickensAnimals Poisonoussecondary defensesdescription
Significance With our comprehensive set of field (model survival), laboratory (controlled learning, palatability, toxin analysis), and molecular data, we provide evidence that polymorphism can persist in an aposematic population, despite expectations of positive frequency-dependent selection. We show that this can happen if prey species carrying a strong signal can exploit predator learning to elicit broad avoidance of many signals, even if predators only have experience with a single signal. This could allow novel signals to be protected within a population of aposematic prey. Thus, under the expectations of broad generalization coupled with limited gene flow, weak aposematic signals can persist, contributing to the overall diversity of signals found within aposematic species.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-09-05 | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |