Communication under sexual selection theories: historical analysis and dark points

PERETTI, A. V.; AISENBERG, A.

Pirenópolis, Brasil

Congreso; 46th Annual Meeting of the Animal Behavior Society; 2009

Animal Behavior Society

Animal communication has been the target of multiple and controversial theoretical and experimental studies. Traditionally, inter-sexual communication has been considered essential for specific identification and as a mechanism for mate choice. More recently, communication has been re-interpreted as a way for exploitation, taking advantage of pre-existent sensory biases. We surveyed studies involving communication under female choice, sensory exploitation and extreme sexual conflict (i.e. sexual coercion and/or sexually antagonistic coevolution) contexts, to determine the priority, limits and extents that have been attributed to this concept during the last decades. Both female choice and sensory exploitation hypotheses have assumed the clear existence of inter-sexual communication prior to mating. On the contrary, extreme sexual conflict hypotheses would not recognize the existence of communication among the sexes. For example, forced copulations are considered synonymous of the absence of communication among the sexes. We highlight the need of more comparative studies among related species, including fine scaled observations. Additionally, life history and ecological contexts should be considered when searching for factors shaping communication systems under sexual selection. Studies on communication under extreme sexual conflict postulate as fertile groundwork for future research.