Colorful ornaments have been the focus of sexual selection studies since the work of Darwin. Yellow to red coloration is often produced by carotenoid pigments. Different hypotheses have been formulated to explain the evolution of these traits as signals of individual quality. Many of these hypotheses involve the existence of a signal production cost. The carotenoids necessary for signaling can ...

Darwin introduced the idea that ornamental secondary sexual traits have evolved in response to female preferences for showy males. Among such traits, yellow and red carotenoid-based ornaments have been considered as particularly good candidates for explaining why and how females would benefit from mating with showy partners. Because carotenoids can be used for promotion of both health and appea...

1. The ‘parasite-mediated sexual selection’ (PMSS) hypothesis predicts that exaggerated male ornamentation could provide a signal to females of a male’s ability to resist parasites. Empirical tests of the PMSS have been largely equivocal, however, which may be because most have not considered the role of early life-history effects. 2. Many sexually selected traits are carotenoid-based. Allocati...

The Cro-Magnon rock-shelter hosted the first discovered and certainly one of most important Gravettian burial sites in Europe. However, copious ornament collection found among human skeletons was not analysed with modern techniques. After proposing a synthesis complex curatorial history material, we submitted large proportion personal ornaments at site, five conservation institutions, to taxono...

In a recent article Matyjasiak et al[ "0888# tested the hypothesis that the cost of a long forked tail ornament can be due to impaired foraging[ The authors lengthened\ experimentally\ the outermost tail feathers of female sand martins "Riparia riparia# and checked the ~ight cost of the manipulation in terms of foraging cost\ i[e[ feeding rates and prey items size[ They found that tail!elongate...