title: A continued role for signaling functions in the early evolution of feathers.
abstract: Persons and Currie (2015) argued against either flight, thermoregulation, or signaling as a functional benefit driving the earliest evolution of feathers; rather, they favored simple feathers having an initial tactile sensory function, which changed to a thermoregulatory function as density increased. Here, we explore the relative merits of early simple feathers that may have originated as tactile sensors progressing instead toward a signaling, rather than (or in addition to) a thermoregulatory function. We suggest that signaling could act in concert with a sensory function more naturally than could thermoregulation. As such, the dismissal of a possible signaling function and the presumption that an initial sensory function led directly to a thermoregulatory function (implicit in the title "bristles before down") are premature.
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9TH, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Graeme D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Ruxton
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
authors.forename: W Scott
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Persons Iv
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
authors.forename: Philip J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Currie
mesh_terms: D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology*; D025061:Dinosaurs / Q000502:physiology*; D005241:Feathers / Q000502:physiology*; D005580:Fossils; D010858:Pigmentation; D012677:Sensation
keywords: Bristles; down; evolution of birds; feathered dinosaurs; flight; plumage; thermoregulation