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      The evolution of acoustic size exaggeration in terrestrial mammals

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      a , 1 , 2
      Nature Communications
      Nature Publishing Group

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          Abstract

          Recent studies have revealed that some mammals possess adaptations that enable them to produce vocal signals with much lower fundamental frequency ( F0) and formant frequency spacing (Δ F) than expected for their size. Although these adaptations are assumed to reflect selection pressures for males to lower frequency components and exaggerate body size in reproductive contexts, this hypothesis has not been tested across a broad range of species. Here we show that male terrestrial mammals produce vocal signals with lower Δ F (but not F0) than expected for their size in mating systems with greater sexual size dimorphism. We also reveal that males produce calls with higher than expected F0 and Δ F in species with increased sperm competition. This investigation confirms that sexual selection favours the use of Δ F as an acoustic size exaggerator and supports the notion of an evolutionary trade-off between pre-copulatory signalling displays and sperm production.

          Abstract

          The acoustic properties of vocal signals generally depend on body size, but in some species males have traits that exaggerate the size conveyed by their vocal signals. Here, Charlton and Reby show that among terrestrial mammals, species with sexual selection for large male body size also have more exaggerated vocal signals for their size.

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          The delayed rise of present-day mammals.

          Did the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event, by eliminating non-avian dinosaurs and most of the existing fauna, trigger the evolutionary radiation of present-day mammals? Here we construct, date and analyse a species-level phylogeny of nearly all extant Mammalia to bring a new perspective to this question. Our analyses of how extant lineages accumulated through time show that net per-lineage diversification rates barely changed across the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary. Instead, these rates spiked significantly with the origins of the currently recognized placental superorders and orders approximately 93 million years ago, before falling and remaining low until accelerating again throughout the Eocene and Oligocene epochs. Our results show that the phylogenetic 'fuses' leading to the explosion of extant placental orders are not only very much longer than suspected previously, but also challenge the hypothesis that the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event had a major, direct influence on the diversification of today's mammals.
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            PanTHERIA: a species-level database of life history, ecology, and geography of extant and recently extinct mammals

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              The Evolution of Language

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Nat Commun
                Nat Commun
                Nature Communications
                Nature Publishing Group
                2041-1723
                06 September 2016
                2016
                : 7
                : 12739
                Affiliations
                [1 ]School of Biology and Environmental Science, Science Centre West, University College Dublin (UCD) , Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
                [2 ]Mammal Vocal Communication and Cognition Research Group, School of Psychology, University of Sussex , Sussex BN1 9QH, UK
                Author notes
                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9261-1711
                Article
                ncomms12739
                10.1038/ncomms12739
                5025854
                27598835
                ca89e8d9-dc2a-42bc-85f0-82f33506c9ed
                Copyright © 2016, The Author(s)

                This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

                History
                : 06 April 2016
                : 28 July 2016
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