Quality prevails over identity in the sexually selected vocalisations of an ageing mammal.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Male sexually selected vocalisations generally contain both individuality and quality cues that are crucial in intra- as well as inter-sexual communication. As individuality is a fixed feature whereas male phenotypic quality changes with age, individuality and quality cues may be subjected to different selection pressures over time. Individuality (for example, morphology of the vocal apparatus) and quality (for example, body size and dominance status) can both affect the vocal production mechanism, inducing the same components of vocalisations to convey both kinds of information. In this case, do quality-related changes to the acoustic structure of calls induce a modification of vocal cues to identity from year to year? We investigated this question in fallow deer (Dama

SUBMITTER: Briefer E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2858104 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature