Veiga José P
Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, C.S.I.C. José Gutiérrez Abascal 2, 28006-Madrid, Spain.
Evolution. 1993 Aug;47(4):1161-1170. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1993.tb02143.x.
Honest signaling theory suggests that advertising traits must be costly to their bearer; thus, only individuals of high phenotypic quality can exhibit maximal expression of these traits. Males of the sexually dichromatic house sparrow, Passer domesticus, have a black throat patch that functions as a badge of status. I investigated whether badge size honestly shows phenotypic quality. Badge size increases with age and decreases with advancing fledging date in yearling males; thus, badge size was larger in older individuals even though age differences were small. Badge size also increased with physical condition independent of age. These results indicate that badge size functions as an honest signal, possibly because there are costs involved in its production. I also found that males with enlarged badges acquired more nest sites than either control males or males with reduced badges. However, males with enlarged badges possessing a nest site raised fewer fledglings per year than did males with reduced badges, suggesting that cheating has no selective benefit. Further studies that accurately measure the energy expenditure allocated to badge production and that quantify additional fitness components are needed to clarify how reliable badges are maintained.
诚实信号理论表明，广告特征对其携带者来说必定是代价高昂的；因此，只有表型质量高的个体才能充分展现这些特征。具有两性异色特征的家麻雀（Passer domesticus）雄性有一块黑色喉部斑块，它起到地位标志的作用。我研究了斑块大小是否诚实地体现了表型质量。在一岁雄性家麻雀中，斑块大小随年龄增长而增大，随出飞日期推迟而减小；因此，即使年龄差异很小，年长个体的斑块尺寸也更大。斑块大小还随身体状况增加，与年龄无关。这些结果表明，斑块大小起到了诚实信号的作用，可能是因为其产生涉及成本。我还发现，斑块增大的雄性比对照雄性或斑块减小的雄性获得了更多巢址。然而，拥有巢址的斑块增大的雄性每年养育的雏鸟比斑块减小的雄性少，这表明欺骗行为没有选择优势。需要进一步的研究来准确测量用于斑块产生的能量消耗，并量化其他适合度成分，以阐明这些可靠的标志是如何维持的。
