DOI: 10.5061/dryad.hhmgqnkvf
title: Sexual selection's role in the persistence of polymorphism in an aposematic signal

description: The persistence of polymorphisms in aposematic species remains one of the
 most interesting paradoxes in evolutionary biology because aposematism
 theory suggests that polymorphisms should be unstable over time. We offer
 an explanation for the persistence of aposematic polymorphisms that
 considers not only the role of natural selection but also the role of
 sexual selection. While predation and mate choice generally act to erode
 signal variation, intraspecific competition may facilitate polymorphisms
 by reducing mate competition for males bearing the rarer warning signal.
 We tested this hypothesis in a population of the strawberry poison frog
 (Oophaga pumilio), where red (common) and yellow (rare) morphs co-exist
 using (1) a 10-year capture-mark-recapture experiment to study natural
 selection, and (2) a territorial intrusion experiment and (3)
 previously-published mate choice experiments to study sexual selection. We
 found that rare yellow males suffer less aggression from male
 conspecifics, suggesting negative frequency dependent selection. Moreover,
 the more common and choosier red females have lower apparent survival than
 their less choosy yellow counterparts, suggesting that survival may be
 better explained by costs of exercising mate choice rather than by
 predation. Our work highlights the importance of considering multiple
 sources of selection in explaining the paradoxical persistence of
 aposematic polymorphisms.
description: # Sexual selection's role in the persistence of polymorphism in an
 aposematic signal Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.hhmgqnkvf](10.5061/dryad.hhmgqnkvf) ## Description of the
 data and file structure This dataset contains data and code to replicate
 the findings in the manuscript: "Sexual selection’s role in the
 persistence of polymorphism in an aposematic signal". We performed
 two separate analyses: capture-mark-recapture analysis and male aggression
 analysis. The capture-mark-recapture analysis were performed on males and
 females separately. Therefore, the code must be run for each sex
 separately (we submitted the data separately). The infraspecific
 competition analysis can be replicated with the data containing
 territorial intrusion experiments (Bast_Agg_final) ### Files and variables
 #### File: Mark_Males.txt ##### Variables * ch: capture or recapture
 history for males. 0 means that the frog was not found, and 1 means that
 the frog was found at that particular survey * color: dorsal coloration of
 the frog #### File: Capture_Mark_Recapture_Code.Rmd **Description:** Code
 for capture_mark_recapture analysis #### File: Bast_Agg_final.csv #####
 Variables * ID: individual * success: whether the experiment was
 Successful (S) or not (F for Fail/R for recaptured male, so the data was
 discarded) * date: date of experiment * pop: population name * time: time
 of the day when the experiment was performed * experimenter: name of
 experimenter * color: color of the focal frog * model: color of the 3D
 printed frog * SVL: snout-vent length (mm) * perch_height: perch height of
 focal frog (cm) * perch_type: perch type of focal frog  * start_call: if
 the frog was calling at the moment of starting the experiment * conspp: if
 the focal frog was with a conspecific at the moment of the experiment *
 total_time: total time of trial (seconds) * track: whether the focal frog
 turned to face the frog decoy  * track_lat: latency time that it took the
 focal frog to face to the frog decoy (seconds) * approach: whether the
 focal frog approached the frog decoy * approach_lat: latency time that it
 took the focal frog to approach the frog decoy (seconds) *
 challenge: whether the focal frog approached the frog decoy's perch *
 challenge_lat:  latency time that it took the focal frog to approach the
 frog decoy's perch (seconds) * challenge_time: time that the focal
 frog was on the frog decoy's perch (seconds) * attack: whether the
 focal frog attacked the frog decoy  * attack_lat: latency time that it
 took the focal frog to attach the frog decoy (seconds) * attack_num:
 Number of attacks of the focal frog to the frog decoy * pin_num: Number of
 times the male pins the model down * call: whether the frog called in
 response to the intrusion experiment * call_num: number of calls during
 the experiment * call_time: total seconds the focal male spent calling
 during the experiment * notes: outstanding observations during the
 experiment **Note:** There are missing values associated to males that did
 not perform some of the behaviors measured (e.g., a male that did not
 'challenge' the decoy frog will have a missing value in the
 column 'challenge_lat'). Missing values will be interpreted as
 "NA" by running the line in our shared code:
 "fileEncoding="UTF-8-BOM", na.strings = ""). ####
 File: Male_Aggression.Rmd **Description:** Code for male aggression
 analysis #### File: Mark_Females.txt ##### Variables * ch: capture or
 recapture history for females. 0 means that the frog was not found and 1
 that the frog was found at that particular survey * color: dorsal color of
 the frog ## Code/software All code can be run in R Codes have been
 uploaded as .Rmd files