Unraveling the true complexity of costly color signaling

Darrell J. Kemp, Marie E. Herberstein and Gregory F. Grether

Behavioral Ecology, 2012, vol. 23, issue 2, 233-236

Abstract: Conspicuous displays of color comprise an enormously diverse and functionally complex class of biological signals. Many of these displays are widely publicized as resulting from chemical colorants known as pigments, which act by selectively "absorbing" part of the light spectrum (Appendix 1). However, the full diversity of animal coloration is just as strongly influenced by optically active surface structures, which act by selectively "reflecting" light (i.e., scattering). In cases where light is scattered coherently, these structural colors produce displays that are often metallic, iridescent, or kaleidoscopic in appearance. In addition to structural coloration, mechanisms such as bioluminescence and fluorescence allow the actual creation of colored light, thereby transcending the simple reflectance of whatever ambient wavelengths are available. There is enormous variation among all of these classes of colorants, and most signals arise through the interaction of diverse suites of pigments and reflecting (structural) mechanisms. Despite this complexity, however, the field of behavioral ecology has been largely preoccupied with understanding how carotenoids—a single group of pigments—may broker the honest signaling of individual quality. This focus has proven highly productive in many respects, but it has also fostered a limited and overly simplistic view of how color signals really work. As we outline here, the complete emerging story of animal coloration is far more complex and interesting.

Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/arr153 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:beheco:v:23:y:2012:i:2:p:233-236.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Behavioral Ecology is currently edited by Louise Barrett

More articles in Behavioral Ecology from International Society for Behavioral Ecology Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().