Weak warning signals can persist in the absence ofgene flow

Authors

J P. Lawrence, University of Mississippi
Bibiana Rojas, University of Mississippi
Antoine Fouquet, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Johanna Mappes, University of Jyväskylä
Annelise Blanchette, John Carroll UniversityFollow
Ralph Saporito, John Carroll UniversityFollow
Renan Janke Bosque, University of Mississippi
Elodie A. Courtois, Centre de Recherche de Montabo
Brice P. Noonan, University of Mississippi

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2019

Publication Title

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Abstract

With our comprehensive set of field (model survival), laboratory (controlled learning, palatability, toxin analysis), and molecular data, we provide evidence that polymorphism can persist in an aposematic population, despite expectations of positive frequency-dependent selection. We show that this can happen if prey species carrying a strong signal can exploit predator learning to elicit broad avoidance of many signals, even if predators only have experience with a single signal. This could allow novel signals to be protected within a population of aposematic prey. Thus, under the expectations of broad generalization coupled with limited gene flow, weak aposematic signals can persist, contributing to the overall diversity of signals found within aposematic species.

Recommended Citation

Lawrence, J P.; Rojas, Bibiana; Fouquet, Antoine; Mappes, Johanna; Blanchette, Annelise; Saporito, Ralph; Bosque, Renan Janke; Courtois, Elodie A.; and Noonan, Brice P., "Weak warning signals can persist in the absence ofgene flow" (2019). 2019 Faculty Bibliography. 89.
https://collected.jcu.edu/fac_bib_2019/89

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.