The costs (and benefits) of standing out: Alternative reproductive behavior and novel trait evolution in the Pacific field cricket

Abstract

Conspicuous animal signals are often under conflicting selection, with higher performance in one fitness component of life history diminishing performance in another component. The diversity of animal signals in nature suggests that novelty- a new structure or property of an organism that allows it to perform a different function, thus opening a new ‘adaptive zone’ is an important, but often overlooked aspect of signal evolution. The evolution of novelty has largely been absent from conversations about how diversity arises and how it can be maintained. This work seeks to examine both the causes and consequences of novel trait evolution. From individual behaviors to population-level dynamics, I have employed various methodologies for answering a decades-long question in evolutionary biology: how are novel traits accommodated in natural populations?