Runaway sexual selection with paternal transmission of the male trait and gene-culture determination of the female preference

Abstract A key element at the heart of the Fisher–Lande–Kirkpatrick model of the sexual selection process is the genetic correlation between (male) trait and (female) preference. The strength of this association is critical in determining a population’s evolutionary trajectory, which is why estimating its magnitude is so important. In the Lande model, the trait-preference correlation is solely established and maintained by mate choice, and although it is unclear how exclusively mate choice does this in nature, the experimental designs typically employed to measure trait-preference genetic correlations could be systematically weakening estimates by not allowing free mate choice (similarly with husbandry practices). The precise impact of the problem is unknown, and possibly unknowable, but simple solutions can be applied to ensure the accuracy of trait-preference correlation estimates is maximized.

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Natural selection increases female fitness by reversing the exaggeration of a male sexually selected trait

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-021-23804-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Kensuke Okada ◽

Masako Katsuki ◽

Manmohan D. Sharma ◽

Katsuya Kiyose ◽

Tomokazu Seko ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sexual Selection ◽

Natural Selection ◽

Experimental Evolution ◽

Genetic Correlations ◽

Lifetime Reproductive Success ◽

Fundamental Theory ◽

Female Fitness ◽

Male Trait ◽

Flour Beetles ◽

Male Specific

AbstractTheory shows how sexual selection can exaggerate male traits beyond naturally selected optima and also how natural selection can ultimately halt trait elaboration. Empirical evidence supports this theory, but to our knowledge, there have been no experimental evolution studies directly testing this logic, and little examination of possible associated effects on female fitness. Here we use experimental evolution of replicate populations of broad-horned flour beetles to test for effects of sex-specific predation on an exaggerated sexually selected male trait (the mandibles), while also testing for effects on female lifetime reproductive success. We find that populations subjected to male-specific predation evolve smaller sexually selected mandibles and this indirectly increases female fitness, seemingly through intersexual genetic correlations we document. Predation solely on females has no effects. Our findings support fundamental theory, but also reveal unforseen outcomes—the indirect effect on females—when natural selection targets sex-limited sexually selected characters.

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Sexual selection in the wolf spider Hygrolycosa rubrofasciata: female preference for drum duration and pulse rate

Behavioral Ecology ◽

10.1093/beheco/13.5.615 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 13 (5) ◽

pp. 615-621 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

S. Parri

Keyword(s):

Sexual Selection ◽

Pulse Rate ◽

Wolf Spider ◽

Female Preference ◽

Hygrolycosa Rubrofasciata

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Female preference for fly song: playback experiments confirm the targets of sexual selection

Animal Behaviour ◽

10.1006/anbe.1998.0799 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 56 (3) ◽

pp. 713-717 ◽

Cited By ~ 61

Author(s):

MICHAEL G RITCHIE ◽

RICHARD M TOWNHILL ◽

ANNELI HOIKKALA

Keyword(s):

Sexual Selection ◽

Female Preference ◽

Playback Experiments ◽

Song Playback

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Is body shape of mangrove-dwelling monitor lizards (Varanus indicus; Varanidae) sexually dimorphic?

Amphibia-Reptilia ◽

10.1163/017353710x532184 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 27-37 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Jan Hnízdo ◽

Veronika Cikánová ◽

Olga Šimková ◽

Daniel Frynta ◽

Petr Velenský ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sexual Selection ◽

Body Shape ◽

Sexually Dimorphic ◽

Evolutionary Explanation ◽

Body Measurements ◽

Male And Female ◽

Fecundity Selection ◽

Selective Forces ◽

Monitor Lizards

AbstractIn monitor lizards, males are typically larger than conspecific females, but body shape is usually quite similar in both sexes. This not only represents a puzzle worthy of evolutionary explanation, but also makes field sex determination of monitor lizards difficult. We asked whether subtle differences in body shape follow the same pattern as in other sexually dimorphic lizard taxa and thus can be explained by the same selective forces. We tested the hypotheses that (1) females have a longer abdomen due to fecundity selection and (2) males possess bigger heads due to intrasexual selection. We also hypothesised that (3) male monitors show a wider chests and longer upper fore-limbs to win male-male wrestling matches. We monitored ontogeny in 35 mangrove-dwelling monitors (Varanus indicus). Seventeen body measurements were taken every three months up to the age of 24-34 months. Sex was determined by an ultrasonographic imaging. We employed multiple approaches to remove the effect of size and used both confirmation and exploratory statistics. The results revealed that sexual differences in body shape were small and emerged after maturity. Females have a relatively longer abdomen while males wider chest and longer upper fore-limbs. Thus, the differences in body shape between male and female varanid lizards may be attributed to both fecundity and sexual selection.

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Female Choice in the Midwife Toads (Alytes Obstetricans and a. Cisternasii)

Behaviour ◽

10.1163/156853995x00342 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 132 (1-2) ◽

pp. 151-161 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Rafael Márquez

Keyword(s):

Sexual Selection ◽

Hatching Success ◽

Female Preference ◽

Dominant Frequency ◽

Female Fitness ◽

Significant Preference ◽

Male Size ◽

Low Frequencies ◽

Behavioural Mechanism ◽

Alytes Obstetricans

AbstractA previous study reported that large males had greater mating success than small males in two species of midwife toads. A behavioural mechanism that would explain such a pattern is sought. Dominant frequency is inversely correlated with male size in Alytes obstetricans and A. cisternasii. In both cases, two-speaker playback tests with synthetic calls show that females have a significant preference for calls with low frequencies. The results shows that female preference may impose directional sexual selection upon a static acoustic character that is correlated with male size. Male Alytes tend their eggs on land, but male size is not correlated with hatching success. Therefore female preference for larger males does not appear to directly increase female fitness.

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Genetic association between male attractiveness and female differential allocation

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2006.0474 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 341-344 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Megan L Head ◽

John Hunt ◽

Robert Brooks

Keyword(s):

Sexual Selection ◽

Mate Choice ◽

Genetic Association ◽

Reproductive Effort ◽

Female Preference ◽

Acheta Domesticus ◽

Female Size ◽

Differential Allocation ◽

Male Attractiveness ◽

Analogous Manner

Differential allocation of reproductive effort towards offspring of attractive mates is a form of post-copulatory mate choice. Although differential allocation has been demonstrated in many taxa, its evolutionary implications have received little attention. Theory predicts that mate choice will lead to a positive genetic correlation between female preference and male attractiveness. This prediction has been upheld for pre-copulatory mate choice, but whether such a relationship between male attractiveness and female differential allocation exists has never been tested. Here, we show that both female pre-copulatory mate choice and post-copulatory differential allocation are genetically associated with male attractiveness in house crickets, Acheta domesticus . Daughters of attractive males mated sooner and laid more eggs when paired with larger males. These forms of mate choice are strongest in large females, suggesting that costs decrease with increasing female size. The genetic association between attractiveness and differential allocation suggests potential for differential allocation to become exaggerated by coevolutionary runaway processes in an analogous manner to pre-copulatory choice. Sexual selection is thus likely to be stronger than predicted by pre-copulatory choice alone.

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