A continued role for signaling functions in the early evolution of feathers. (2nd February 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ruxton, Graeme D.; Persons IV, W. Scott; Currie, Philip J.
• Is Part Of: Evolution. Volume 71:Number 3(2017)
• Page Start: 797
• Page End: 799
• Publication Date: 2017-02-02
• Subjects: Bristles -- down -- evolution of birds -- feathered dinosaurs -- flight -- plumage -- thermoregulation; Evolution -- Periodicals; Heredity -- Periodicals; Évolution (Biologie) -- Périodiques; Hérédité -- Périodiques; 338.47004094
• DOI: 10.1111/evo.13178
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0014-3820

Abstract

Abstract : Persons and Currie (2015) argued against either flight, thermoregulation, or signaling as a functional benefit driving the earliest evolution of feathers; rather, they favored simple feathers having an initial tactile sensory function, which changed to a thermoregulatory function as density increased. Here, we explore the relative merits of early simple feathers that may have originated as tactile sensors progressing instead toward a signaling, rather than (or in addition to) a thermoregulatory function. We suggest that signaling could act in concert with a sensory function more naturally than could thermoregulation. As such, the dismissal of a possible signaling function and the presumption that an initial sensory function led directly to a thermoregulatory function (implicit in the title "bristles before down") are premature.