What is the tempo and mode of evolution – how fast and in what pattern do traits evolve – is a major question of evolutionary biology. Here we studied patterns of evolutionary change in visual and acoustic signals in Old World orioles. Since producing multiple signals may be costly, we also tested whether there was an evolutionary trade-off between the elaboration of those two types of signals. We studied 30 Oriolus taxa using comparative methods and a recent molecular phylogeny. Morphology and plumage hue evolved comparatively slowly, whereas song evolved rapidly. Among individual feather patches, the evolutionary rate of color was slowest in primaries, which are critical for flapping flight, and fastest in patches exposed to observers (mantle and breast). Thus, primaries seem to be under functional constraint while the evolution of visually exposed patches is perhaps shaped by sexual selection. Song evolution was comparatively fast, but also attracted to a single optimum. This may be due to selection for signal efficacy, because all orioles inhabit similar forested habitats. Only color diversity was best fit by a speciational model: the biggest changes in coloration were concentrated at speciation events, thus perhaps linked to the evolution of species recognition. Our analysis did not reveal any evolutionary trade-off between acoustic and visual signals, suggesting that the elaboration of visual and acoustic signals in the Old World orioles evolved independently. Our study shows that patterns of evolutionary change may be surprisingly complex even within a single clade of birds and thus further studies are needed to identify general patterns of signal macroevolution.
Color span of Oriolus males
Color span of male Oriolus, average for a given species. This is a csv file with comma as delimiter. It is an output from spectra processing in R software, package "pavo".
Oriolus_colspan.csv
LM Hue of Oriolus males
LM Hue data for Oriolus males for the 13 plumage patches (see the accompanying publication for the codes). This is a csv file with comma as delimiter.
Oriolus_lm.csv
SE of LM Hue of Oriolus males
SE across individuals of LM Hue in Oriolus males for the 13 plumage patches (see the accompanying publication for the codes). This is a csv file with comma as delimiter.
Oriolus_lm_err.csv
Oriolus male morphometrics, per species
Means of morphological measurements (in mm) for Oriolus males (see the accompanying publication for the codes). This is a csv file with comma as delimiter.
Oriolus_morpho.csv
SE of Oriolus male morphometrics, per species
SE across individuals of morphological measurements (in mm) for Oriolus males (see the accompanying publication for the codes). This is a csv file with comma as delimiter.
Oriolus_morpho_err.csv
Primary morphometric data of Oriolus males
Primary morphometric measurements of Oriolus males (details in the file itself). This is a xls file prepared in LibreOffice Calc ver. 4.2.8.2.
Oriolus_morphology_males.xls
MS Hue of Oriolus males
MS Hue data for Oriolus males for the 13 plumage patches (see the accompanying publication for the codes). This is a csv file with comma as delimiter.
Oriolus_ms.csv
SE of MS Hue of Oriolus males
SE across individuals of MS Hue in Oriolus males for the 13 plumage patches (see the accompanying publication for the codes). This is a csv file with comma as delimiter.
Oriolus_ms_err.csv
Oriolus male songs, per species
Song characteristics of Oriolus males used in the study as means for species (see the accompanying publication for the codes). This is a csv file with comma as delimiter.
Oriolus_song.csv
SE of Oriolus male songs, per species
SE across individuals of song characteristics of Oriolus males used in the study (see the accompanying publication for the codes). This is a csv file with comma as delimiter.
Oriolus_song_err.csv
Primary Oriolus male song data
Primary data on Oriolus male songs (details in the file itself). This is a xls file prepared in LibreOffice Calc ver. 4.2.8.2.
Oriolus_songs.xls
Primary spectrophotometric data of Oriolus males
Primary spectrophotometric data of Oriolus males. This is a csv file with comma as delimiter. It is an output from spectra processing in R software, package "pavo".
wl -- wavelength, from 300 to 700 mn
further columns -- average reflectance values in 1-nm increments for males of all species, separately for all patches; here M means male, whereas U means unknown sex, but these were used as males
Oriolus_spectra_males.csv
Phylogenetic tree of Oriolus used in the study
Phylogenetic tree used in the study. For the source of the tree, see the accompanying publication.
Oriolus_tree.tre