Compensatory traits and the evolution of male ornaments
Abstract
How ornaments that are used during mate choice and rival assessment remain reliable has been a source of contention for many years. Such signals are hypothesized to be costly (i.e., 'handicaps'), but empirical studies testing for costs of sexually selected ornaments are equivocal at best, contradictory at worst. We review recent studies finding compensation for sexually selected ornaments, in both intra- and inter-specific studies, suggesting that other traits evolve to mitigate costs of ornaments. We synthesize these studies to elucidate the role of compensatory traits in the evolution of reliable ornaments and explain how selection to reduce ornament costs may influence aspects of the phenotype that are not subjected to direct sexual selection and may obscure our ability to directly measure ornament costs. Both intraspecific studies and comparative studies in a phylogenetic framework are important for our understanding of how the costs of signals may be reduced by compensation, but each approach answers different questions about ornament evolution. We also elaborate on a general theoretical model that can be useful when testing for costs of ornaments in correlational and experimental studies. We recommend that future investigators should consider compensatory traits when testing for ornament costs, especially when manipulating ornamentation.
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When traits are exhibited that appear cumbersome, natural selection may select for co-adaptations for the mitigation of any additional costs.
“when traits are exhibited that appear cumbersome, natural selection may select for co-adaptations for the mitigation of any additional costs4142.”
From The peacock train does not handicap cursorial locomotor performance (2016) · cites this paper as [42]
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Self-citationTHE ARCHITECTURE OF PHENOTYPES IN A NATURALLY HYBRIDIZING COMPLEX OF XIPHOPHORUS FISHES
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Numerous Paradoxes Explained by BandwagoningPreprint
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“Many ornaments and other signals do not appear at all costly to produce (Husak and Swallow, 2011; Emlen et al., 2012; Simons et al., 2015), which raises the question: Why are they not faked?”
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Solon, I. S. (2016) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/064493 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“The index hypothesis has been advanced to account for the honesty of some uncostly signals (Husak & Swallow, 2011).”
BackgroundSex-specific variation in morphology and performance in the Asian house gecko
Cameron, S. F. (2015) · The University of Queensland · doi:10.14264/uql.2015.377 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“…to occur because of increased development and maintenance costs and/or compromised survival from reduced locomotor performance and capacity to escape from predators (Moller and Hedenstrom, 1999; Lopez and Martin, 2002; Oufiero and Garland, 2007; Husak et al., 2011a; Husak and Swallow, 2011).”
BackgroundHasegawa, M. (2023) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.1101/2023.12.02.569718 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Kuo, C. (2021) · ScholarWorks@UMassAmherst (University of Massachusetts Amherst) · doi:10.7275/7499452.0
Sizing Up Swords: Correlated Evolution of Antlers and Tusks in UngulatesPreprint
Lopez, N., & Stankowich, T. (2021) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-852291/v1
“However, other non-combat traits may suffer compensatory losses (Husak and Swallow 2011).”
BackgroundThe development of compensatory ability for a sexually-selected ornament in stalk-eyed flies
Vance, J. T., & Swallow, J. G. (2024) · Frontiers in Ethology · doi:10.3389/fetho.2024.1484454
Self-citationFlight performance evolved with forked tails and opportunities for extrapair mating in swallows
Hasegawa, M. (2025) · Evolutionary Ecology · doi:10.1007/s10682-025-10332-9
“However, their studies, similar to those of many others that manipulated ornaments, did not consider compensatory traits (e.g., wing size and shape; Møller 1996; Hasegawa 2024; also see Oufiero and Garland 2007; Husak and Swallow 2011 for general cautions of ignoring compensatory traits).”
Somjee, U., Fuxjager, M. J., Khuntia, P., Koch, R. E., Larter, L. C., Leith, N. T., Nagarajan‐Radha, V., Palaoro, A. V., Shankar, A., Sondhi, Y., et al. (2025) · Integrative and Comparative Biology · doi:10.1093/icb/icaf092
Mongue, A. J., Johnson, T. W., Liesenfelt, T., Markee, A., Nguyen, P., & Hospodářská, M. (2025) · bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · doi:10.64898/2025.12.05.692592 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- Swallow, J., & Husak, J.
- Affiliations
- University of South Dakota (US)
- Venue
- Behaviour
- Publisher
- Walter de Gruyter GmbH
- Published
- 2011
- Volume
- 148
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-29
- ISSN
- 0005-7959 (ISSN-L)
- 1568-539X
- OpenAlex
- W2085271368
- Cited by
- 97
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 11.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Behaviour (publishedVersion)
- UST Research Online (University of St. Thomas - Minnesota) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology › Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior
- Keywords
- male ornaments, sexual selection, signal reliability, handicap, mate choice, intraspecific variation, phylogenetic comparative analysis
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