Data from: The role of between-group signalling in the evolution of primate ornamentation
Data files
Aug 12, 2024 version files 147.11 MB
-
Data_primate_ornaments.csv
-
README.md
-
VertTree_Primates_10k_trees.nex
Abstract
Gregarious mammals interact to varying degrees and in a variety of ways with neighbouring groups. Since navigating this wider social environment via conventional means (social knowledge) may be challenging, we hypothesize that between-group socio-spatial dynamics have exerted strong selection on phenotypic markers of individual identity, quality and competitive ability. Ornaments are sexually selected decorative traits with far-reaching signalling potential. Here, we examined the links between sexual dimorphism in ornamentation, home range use and encounter rates across 144 primate species in a Bayesian framework. We show that home range overlap (shared space among neighbours), an indicator of the complexity of between-group interactions (but not necessarily male-male competition), is positively associated with dimorphism in ornamentation. We find no clear effect for between-group encounter rates. We also find that inter-group interactions were less agonistic when there was greater home range overlap. Taken together, these findings indicate that ornaments play a hitherto underappreciated role in signalling to conspecifics outside the realms of their home groups.
README: The role of between-group signalling in the evolution of primate ornamentation
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1g1jwsv5g
This dataset contains information on sexually dimorphic ornaments, social context and between-group behavior across 144 primate species, extracted from the literature and used for phylogenetic comparative analyses.
Description of the data and file structure
Associated files:
VertTree_Primates_10k_trees.nex 10,000 phylogenies for all 317 available primate species, as provided by http://vertlife.org/data/mammals
Data_primate_ornaments.csv Data for all species of this study
Script_primate_ornamentation.R R code for the analyses
Description of variables in data file:
Column | Description |
---|---|
PhyloVertTree | Species name corresponding to the phylogeny |
Species | Species name as in other sources |
Family | Primate family |
Population | Study population |
PercentHomeRangeOverlap | Percent home range overlap |
Encounters | Inter-group encounters, raw data |
EncounterRatePerDay | Daily inter-group encounter rate |
PercentAgonistic | Percent agonistic encounters among those observed |
NGroupsObserved | Number of groups observed in original study |
StudyDuration | Duration of observational study |
Notes | Notes |
References | Reference for inter-group data |
GroupSize | Mean group size |
SSD | Sexual size dimorphism (male body mass / female body mass) |
MatingSystem | Mating system characterization |
REF group size | Reference for group size |
REF SD | Reference for SSD |
TotalOrnamentDimorphismNoDichromatism | Ornamentation score based on all traits considered |
TotalDimorphismConservativeNoDichromatism | Conservative ornamentation score using simple presence/absence of scructural and/or color dimorphism for each of three body parts (head, trunk/limbs and rump/anogenital area) |
TotalPelageDimorphismNoDichromatism_head_body | Ornamentation score for pelage dimorphism in head and body areas |
TotalGenitalDimorphism | Ornamentation score for genital dimorphism |
TotalOtherDimorphism | Ornamentation score for other ornamentation traits |
REF ornamentation | Reference for ornamentation scores |
Note: Throughout data file, NA means 'no data available'
Sharing/Access information
Phylogenetic data were derived from:
Code/Software
All R code is provided and was run in R version 4.3.
Methods
Raw data were collected from the literature, phylogenetic trees obtained from http://vertlife.org/data/mammals.