A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Sympatric shift in a male sexual ornament in the damselfly Calopteryx splendens
Authors: Honkavaara J, Dunn DW, Ilvonen S, Suhonen J
Publisher: WILEY-BLACKWELL
Publication year: 2011
Journal: Journal of Evolutionary Biology
Journal name in source: JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
Journal acronym: J EVOLUTION BIOL
Number in series: 1
Volume: 24
Issue: 1
First page : 139
Last page: 145
Number of pages: 7
ISSN: 1010-061X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.02146.x
Abstract
Character displacement is a process by which interactions between two species that exhibit similar traits, results in geographical patterns of trait divergence in one or both species. These traits evolve to reduce costs of interspecific interactions in sympatry and thus differ from their condition in allopatry. In male damselflies Calopteryx splendens, large wing spots are sexually selected. However, in sympatric populations with Calopteryx virgo, wing spot size decreases as C. virgo abundance increases. The stability of this pattern is unclear, because previous studies have focused on sympatric populations with potentially fluctuating relative abundances. We studied the wing spot sizes of C. splendens in both sympatric and allopatric populations. Our data show that male C. splendens' wing spots are larger in allopatry than in sympatry with C. virgo. We suggest that both interspecific aggression and avoidance of interspecific reproductive interactions may result in this pattern, although their relative importance remains unclear.
Character displacement is a process by which interactions between two species that exhibit similar traits, results in geographical patterns of trait divergence in one or both species. These traits evolve to reduce costs of interspecific interactions in sympatry and thus differ from their condition in allopatry. In male damselflies Calopteryx splendens, large wing spots are sexually selected. However, in sympatric populations with Calopteryx virgo, wing spot size decreases as C. virgo abundance increases. The stability of this pattern is unclear, because previous studies have focused on sympatric populations with potentially fluctuating relative abundances. We studied the wing spot sizes of C. splendens in both sympatric and allopatric populations. Our data show that male C. splendens' wing spots are larger in allopatry than in sympatry with C. virgo. We suggest that both interspecific aggression and avoidance of interspecific reproductive interactions may result in this pattern, although their relative importance remains unclear.
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