Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
Biol Lett. 2011 Dec 23;7(6):866-8. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0520. Epub 2011 Jun 29.
Animal communication through colour signals is a central theme in sexual selection. Structural colours can be just as costly and honest signals as pigment-based colours. Ultraviolet (UV) is a structural colour that can be important both in intrasexual competition and mate choice. However, it is still unknown if a UV signal alone can determine the outcome of male-male fights. European green lizard (Lacerta viridis) males develop a nuptial throat coloration with a strong UV component. Among males differing only in their manipulated UV colour, females prefer males with higher UV. Here, we experimentally decreased the UV coloration of randomly chosen males from otherwise similar male pairs to test the hypothesis that a difference in UV colour alone can affect fight success during male-male competition. Our results fully supported the hypotheses: in almost 90 per cent of the contests the male with reduced UV lost the fight. Our results show that UV can be an important signal, affecting both female mate choice and determining male fight success.
动物通过颜色信号进行交流是性选择的一个核心主题。结构色可以像色素色一样，成为代价高昂且真实的信号。紫外线 (UV) 是一种结构色，在种内竞争和配偶选择中都很重要。然而，目前尚不清楚仅一个 UV 信号是否可以决定雄性之间战斗的结果。欧洲绿蜥蜴（Lacerta viridis）雄性在求偶时会出现强烈的 UV 成分的喉部颜色。在仅在 UV 颜色上有所不同的雄性中，雌性更喜欢 UV 更高的雄性。在这里，我们通过实验降低了来自其他相似雄性对的随机选择雄性的 UV 颜色，以检验仅在 UV 颜色上的差异是否会影响雄性之间竞争中的战斗成功率这一假设。我们的结果完全支持了假设：在近 90%的战斗中，UV 减少的雄性输了。我们的结果表明，UV 可以是一个重要的信号，既影响雌性的配偶选择，又决定雄性的战斗成功率。
