A quality signaling–recognition trade-off at the level of the type of interaction not species: a response to comments on Sheehan and Bergman

Abstract

benefit from, social knowledge also have the more overt badge of status, if social knowledge limits quality signal evolution? If the answer is that there is no requirement for social knowledge and quality signals to be antagonistic in this sense, why are social knowledge and signal quality presented as somehow imposing limits on each other? These questions are not intended as refutations, nor do we have the answers, but we consider them sufficiently interesting to raise and would be interested to know the authors’ views.