Animal communication and natural/sexual selection
Research Area: Ecology - Zoology
Coordinators: Roberto Sacchi, Marco Mangiacotti
ERC sectors: LS8_11 Behavioural ecology and evolution; LS8_8 Phylogenetics, systematics, comparative biology; LS8_6 Evolutionary ecology
1) Animal Communication (Acoustic, Visual, and Chemical)
2) The Role of Sexual Selection in the Evolution of Signal Structure
3) Evolution and Maintenance of Chromatic Polymorphism
For over a decade, we have been studying animal communication (acoustic, visual, and chemical) in contexts of sexual selection to understand how selection determines signal structure and the information content associated with them.
Mangiacotti, M., Baeckens, S., Scali, S., Martín, J., Van Damme, R., & Sacchi, R. (2021). Evolutionary and biogeographical support for species-specific proteins in lizard chemical signals. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 134(4), 912–928. https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blab131
Mangiacotti, M., Fumagalli, M., Casali, C., Biggiogera, M., Forneris, F., & Sacchi, R. (2023). Carbonic anhydrase IV in lizard chemical signals. Scientific Reports, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41012-9
Sacchi, R., Cancian, S., Ghia, D., Fea, G., & Coladonato, A. J. (2020). Color variation in signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus. Current Zoology. https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoaa031
Sacchi, R., Coladonato, A. J., Battaiola, M., Pasquariello, C., Buratti, S., Matellini, C., Mangiacotti, M., Scali, S., & Zuffi, M. A. L. A. L. (2021). Subjective resource value affects aggressive behavior independently of resource-holding-potential and color morphs in male common wall lizard. Journal of Ethology, 39(2), 179–189. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-021-00690-6
Yang, W., Feiner, N., Salvi, D., Laakkonen, H., Jablonski, D., Pinho, C., Carretero, M. A., Sacchi, R., Zuffi, M. A. L., Scali, S., Plavos, K., Pafilis, P., Poulakakis, N., Lymberakis, P., Jandzik, D., Schulte, U., Aubret, F., Badiane, A., de Lanuza, G. P. i., … Uller, T. (2022). Population Genomics of Wall Lizards Reflects the Dynamic History of the Mediterranean Basin. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 39(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab311