Resource value and the context dependence of receiver behaviour.

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Ecology
• Animal Communication
• Evolutionary Biology

Background:

• Animals use signals of fighting ability to reduce competition costs.
• Reliable signals are theoretically costly, but many lack obvious costs.
• Social costs, where receivers challenge inaccurate signals, may maintain accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate context-dependent receiver responses to social cost signals.
• To provide experimental evidence for the role of social costs in signal accuracy.
• To examine how resource value influences the testing of fighting ability signals.

Main Methods:

• Experimental manipulation of resource value in contests.
• Observation of receiver responses to signal phenotypes in Polistes dominulus wasps.
• Analysis of signal trust and challenge behavior based on resource value.

Main Results:

• Wasps trusted elaborate signals of fighting ability when competing for low-value resources.
• Receiver responses shifted towards challenging signals as resource value increased.
• At sufficiently high resource values, receivers challenged rivals regardless of signal accuracy.

Conclusions:

• Receiver responses to social cost signals are context-dependent.
• This context dependency is crucial for maintaining signal accuracy and minimizing conflict costs.
• Social costs, modulated by resource value, play a significant role in the evolution of reliable animal signals.