title: An appraisal of how the vitamin A-redox hypothesis can maintain honesty of carotenoid-dependent signals.
abstract: The vitamin A-redox hypothesis provides an explanation for honest signaling of phenotypic quality by carotenoid-dependent traits. A key aspect of the vitamin A-redox hypothesis, applicable to both yellow and red coloration, is the hypothesized negative feedback of tightly regulated Vitamin A plasma levels on the enzyme responsible for sequestering both Vitamin A and carotenoids from the gut. We performed a meta-analysis and find that vitamin A levels are positively related to carotenoid plasma levels (r = 0.50, P = 0.0002). On the basis of this finding and further theoretical considerations, we propose that the vitamin A-redox hypothesis is unlikely to explain carotenoid-dependent honest signaling.
authors: Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield Sheffield, S102TN, UK ; Behavioural Biology, University of Groningen PO-Box 11103, 9700CC, Groningen, the Netherlands.
authors: Mirre J P
authors: MJ
authors: Simons
authors: Behavioural Biology, University of Groningen PO-Box 11103, 9700CC, Groningen, the Netherlands.
authors: Ton G G
authors: TG
authors: Groothuis
authors: Behavioural Biology, University of Groningen PO-Box 11103, 9700CC, Groningen, the Netherlands.
authors: Simon
authors: S
authors: Verhulst
keywords: Birds; carotenoids; coloration; meta-analysis; sexual selection
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