Begging and bleating: the evolution of parent-offspring signalling.

The evolution of biological signalling in the face of evolutionary conflicts of interest is an active area of evolutionary ecology, and one to which Maynard Smith has made important contributions. We explore the major theoretical challenges in the field, concentrating largely on how offspring signal...

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Main Authors: Godfray, H, Johnstone, R
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2000
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author Godfray, H
Johnstone, R
author_facet Godfray, H
Johnstone, R
author_sort Godfray, H
collection OXFORD
description The evolution of biological signalling in the face of evolutionary conflicts of interest is an active area of evolutionary ecology, and one to which Maynard Smith has made important contributions. We explore the major theoretical challenges in the field, concentrating largely on how offspring signal to their parents when there is the potential for parent-offspring conflict. Costly offspring solicitation (begging etc.) has been interpreted in terms of a Zahavi Grafen honest handicap signal, but this has been challenged on the grounds of' the costs of signalling. We review this controversy and also explore the issue of pooling versus separating signalling equilibrium. An alternative explanation for costly begging is that it is due to sibling competition, and we discuss the relationship between these ideas and signalling models in families with more than one offspring. Finally we consider signal uncertainty, how signalling models can be made dynamic, and briefly how they may be tested experimentally.
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spelling oxford-uuid:c1b8bf14-6ead-48ff-ba29-f8fcc19518672022-03-27T06:03:40ZBegging and bleating: the evolution of parent-offspring signalling.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:c1b8bf14-6ead-48ff-ba29-f8fcc1951867EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2000Godfray, HJohnstone, RThe evolution of biological signalling in the face of evolutionary conflicts of interest is an active area of evolutionary ecology, and one to which Maynard Smith has made important contributions. We explore the major theoretical challenges in the field, concentrating largely on how offspring signal to their parents when there is the potential for parent-offspring conflict. Costly offspring solicitation (begging etc.) has been interpreted in terms of a Zahavi Grafen honest handicap signal, but this has been challenged on the grounds of' the costs of signalling. We review this controversy and also explore the issue of pooling versus separating signalling equilibrium. An alternative explanation for costly begging is that it is due to sibling competition, and we discuss the relationship between these ideas and signalling models in families with more than one offspring. Finally we consider signal uncertainty, how signalling models can be made dynamic, and briefly how they may be tested experimentally.
spellingShingle Godfray, H
Johnstone, R
Begging and bleating: the evolution of parent-offspring signalling.
title Begging and bleating: the evolution of parent-offspring signalling.
title_full Begging and bleating: the evolution of parent-offspring signalling.
title_fullStr Begging and bleating: the evolution of parent-offspring signalling.
title_full_unstemmed Begging and bleating: the evolution of parent-offspring signalling.
title_short Begging and bleating: the evolution of parent-offspring signalling.
title_sort begging and bleating the evolution of parent offspring signalling
work_keys_str_mv AT godfrayh beggingandbleatingtheevolutionofparentoffspringsignalling
AT johnstoner beggingandbleatingtheevolutionofparentoffspringsignalling