Data from: Biogeography predicts macro-evolutionary patterning of gestural display complexity in a passerine family

Gestural displays are incorporated into the signaling repertoire of
numerous animal species. These displays range from complex signals that
involve impressive and challenging maneuvers, to simpler displays or no
gesture at all. The factors that drive this evolution remain largely
unclear, and we therefore investigate this issue in New World blackbirds
by testing how factors related to a species’ geographical distribution and
social mating system predict macro-evolutionary patterns of display
elaboration. We report that species inhabiting temperate regions produce
more complex displays than species living in tropical regions, and we
attribute this to i) ecological factors that increase the competitiveness
of the social environment in temperate regions, and ii) different
evolutionary and geological contexts under which species in temperate and
tropical regions evolved. Meanwhile, we find no evidence that social
mating system predicts species differences in display complexity, which is
consistent with the idea that gestural displays evolve independently of
social mating system. Together, these results offer some of the first
insight into the role played by geographic factors and evolutionary
context in the evolution of the remarkable physical displays of birds and
other vertebrates.