The evolution of honest and dishonest signals of fighting ability.

ABSTRACT: Competition over resources is often decided via aggressive interactions, which may or may not escalate to all-out fights. Weapons and body size play important roles in such interactions, as they often provide reliable cues of an individual's fighting ability. In contrast, traits like nonfunctional display "weapons" may dishonestly exaggerate fighting ability in order to intimidate opponents into retreating. Signals used in the context of aggressive interactions potentially evolve via very different mechanisms than courtship signals, but have received far less theoretical attention. Here, we contrast the evolution of honest and dishonest signals of fighting ability using a game-theoretic model. Contests are assumed to consist of three discrete stages: display from a distance, low-intensity

SUBMITTER: Dashtbali M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11497847 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature