Building variation in visual displays through discrete modifications of motion

Interactions between conspecifics are often composed of one or more discrete behavioural displays. Here we evaluate a behaviour used in aggressive interactions between conspecific males of 10 species of leaf warblers (Phylloscopus). Using high-speed videography and methods derived from geometric morphometrics, we find that the form of a primary visual display differs significantly among species, but with large intraspecific variation and much overlap in shape space. Additional interspecific differences include a species which does not move its wings at all, two quantitatively different displays in the behavioural repertoire, and the loss or gain of a pale patch on the wing. We conclude that display evolution proceeds largely by adding or subtracting discrete components from an established repertoire, accompanied by slight modifications of the core display.  In these ways, more complex displays evolve on the background of the ancestral signal, thereby enabling modifications to appea..., We induced aggressive displays using song playback, filmed the displays using high-speed video, and adapted methods from geometric morphometrics to ask the extent to which the form of the display is conserved or varies across species. Using these videos, we also collected information on wing flick rate. The data was processed using QuickTime player to measure rates, and all further analyses conducted in R. We also measured habitat illuminance in the primary breeding habitats across the elevational gradient using Onset light and temperature loggers. Data from the loggers were downloaded to the HOBOconnect app via Bluetooth at the time of collection and analysed using scripts written for R.
, # Data from: Building variation in visual displays through discrete modifications of motion

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.1rn8pk177](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1rn8pk177)

## Description of the data and file structure

### Files and variables

For each figure and corresponding analyses there is a folder (zip file) that includes the code and related files. All compressed archives will expand to the folder structure containing: code, data, figures and output. 

* Code is where the R or R markdown scripts are located. In Fig1_Phylogeny and Fig3_Rates the R Markdown scripts are located in the main folder. 
* Data contains csv files or txt files necessary to run the analyses. 
* Figures is where the final figures are saved to.
* Outputs contain several subfolders labeled by file extension. For example, graphs or other figures generated by the code can be saved in the tifs or jpegs folders, while the results of an analysis would be saved in the csv folder.

Note that several of these a...,