Physiological Costs of Repetitive Courtship Displays in Cockroaches Handicap Locomotor Performance.

ABSTRACT: Courtship displays are typically thought to have evolved via female choice, whereby females select mates based on the characteristics of a display that is expected to honestly reflect some aspect of the male's quality. Honesty is typically enforced by mechanistic costs and constraints that limit the level at which a display can be performed. It is becoming increasingly apparent that these costs may be energetic costs involved in the production of dynamic, often repetitive displays. A female attending to such a display may thus be assessing the physical fitness of a male as an index of his quality. Such assessment would provide information on his current physical quality as well as his ability to carry out other demanding activities, qualities with which a choosy female should want to provi

SUBMITTER: Mowles SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4659605 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature