ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2017
What maintains signal honesty in animal colour displays used in mate choice?
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
55 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Synthesis of Nature's Extravaganza: An Augmented Meta-Meta-Analysis on (Putative) Sexual Signals.Ecology letters · 2025Pooled it
- Ornaments are equally informative in male and female birds.Nature communications · 2022Pooled it
- Carotenoid metabolism strengthens the link between feather coloration and individual quality.Nature communications · 2018Pooled it
- Exaggerated signaling in a solitary mammal: evidence from brown bears (Journal of mammalogy · 2026Article
- Fifty Years Later, and We Still Don't Know About Badges of Status.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Graded BMP signals modulate yellow and red color in fishes, impacting adult pigment patterns and conspecific shoaling behavior.Current biology : CB · 2026Article
- Forelimb stripe coloration signals age, but not physiological health, in painted turtles.Behavioral ecology and sociobiology · 2026Article
- Graded BMP signals modulate yellow and red color in fishes impacting adult pigment pattern and behavior.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Evidence for the evolution of male and female cardinals' plumage colouration being affected by both natural and sexual selection.BMC ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Male-male competition affects color phenotype expression and color-dependent oxidative stress levels in a polymorphic cichlid fish.Ethology : formerly Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie · 2025Article
- Bdh1l Gene Expression Is a Potential Molecular Factor in the Evolution of Carotenoid-Based Colour Diversity of Cichlid Fishes.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Dialogues in colour and behaviour: integration of complex signalling traits and physiology.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Article
- Claw coloration in the fiddler crabCurrent zoology · 2025Article
- Lizard polymorphic throat colors are distinguishable by conspecifics and predators across variable light environments.PloS one · 2025Article
- A molecular mechanism for bright color variation in parrots.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2024Article
- Pterin-Based Red Coloration Predicts the Outcome of Male-Male Competition in Guinan Toad-Headed Lizard.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Sexual selection may support phenotypic plasticity in male coloration of an African cichlid fish.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Correlated evolution of conspicuous colouration and burrowing in crayfish.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Family resemblance in color-patch size is not affected by stress experience in a cichlid fish.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Many of the colour displays of animals are proposed to have evolved in response to female mate choice for honest signals of quality, but such honest signalling requires mechanisms to prevent cheating. The most widely accepted and cited mechanisms for ensuring signal honesty are based on the costly signalling hypothesis, which posits that costs associated with ornamentation prevent low-quality males from being highly ornamented. Alternatively, by the index hypothesis, honesty can be achieved via cost-free mechanisms if ornament production is causally linked to core physiological pathways. In this essay, we review how a costly signalling framework has shaped empirical research in mate choice for colourful male ornaments and emphasize that alternative interpretations are plausible under an index signalling framework. We discuss the challenges in both empirically testing and distinguishing between the two hypotheses, noting that they need not be mutually exclusive. Finally, we advocate for a comprehensive approach to studies of colour signals that includes the explicit consideration of cost-free mechanisms for honesty.This article is part of the themed issue 'Animal coloration: production, perception, function and application'.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.