Abstract
Diet is arguably the most significant environmental factor shaping chemical signals in animals. In rare cases, dietary components are converted directly into pheromones or signature mixtures but more generally variation in an individual’s diet influences their overall condition and thus capacity to synthesise the signal. Typically, diet is variable between individuals of the same species and this can lead to variation in signals. This variation presents specific challenges to receivers, who must be able to recognise and respond to a greater range of signals. However, such variation might also provide the receiver with key information about the signaller, allowing them to respond to the signal advantageously. Here we investigate how dietary-mediated pheromones and signature mixtures can provide the receiver with reliable information about the signaller, ultimately benefiting the receiver in a way not achievable by a static signal.
Highlights
Pheromones are chemical signals that transmit information between individuals of the same species
Wyatt (2010) distinguishes between pheromones, which typically elicit a predisposed response in the receiver, and signature mixtures that first require the receiver to learn the chemical signal
We examine the degree to which diet-mediated variation in pheromones and signature mixtures provides the receiver with both reliable and beneficial information
Summary
Pheromones (from the Greek pherein, to carry or transfer and hormon to excite) are chemical signals that transmit information between individuals of the same species. Diet may influence the profile of the pheromone or signature mixture more directly, determining the individual chemical components present and their relative ratios, which may have consequences for recognition systems that rely on phenotype matching, or self-referral mechanisms (Buczkowski and Silverman, 2006). Characterizing the link between an individual’s diet and their pheromone or signature mixture is key to understanding how diet-mediated variation in the chemical signal benefits the receiver.
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