Sexual Selection

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Udo M. Savalli
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Female Preferences ◽  
Evolutionary Changes ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Worker Castes ◽  
Descent Of Man

When Charles Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species (1859), he issued a challenge to potential critics: “If it could be proved that any part of the structure of any one species had been formed for the exclusive good of another species, it would annihilate my theory, for such could not be produced through natural selection”. Darwin went even further by identifying several traits that seemed especially problematical: the sterile worker castes of social insects and extravagant ornaments that appear to benefit potential predators more than their bearers. It is this latter problem and Darwin’s solution to it—sexual selection—that are the focus of this chapter. I begin by providing a very brief historical overview of sexual selection, focusing on the initial controversies and its resurgence in the 1970s. I then provide an overview of the conditions that lead to sexual selection and the kinds of traits that are favored by it. Sexual selection usually involves evolutionary changes in both males and females. Thus, I first address the evolution of extravagant male traits (it is typically males that exhibit such traits). Since female choice is one of the mechanisms that can lead to the evolution of extravagant male traits, I also address the evolution of female preferences. Finally, I will identify those areas of the field that are the most controversial, unresolved, and promising for future research. This review is, of necessity, brief and selective. I have tried to cite recent reviews rather than the extensive primary literature to provide an easy entry point into the literature. Readers wishing for more detailed treatment would do well by starting with Andersson’s (1994) excellent book. Darwin introduced the concept of sexual selection in On the Origin of Species (1859) and greatly elaborated the idea in The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871). Darwin defined sexual selection as depending “not on a struggle for existence, but on a struggle between males for possession of the females”.

scholarly journals Charles Darwin, sexual selection and the evolution of other-regarding ethics

BJHS Themes ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Piers J. Hale
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Woman Question ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Acquired Characters ◽  
Other Regarding ◽  
Descent Of Man ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Although many read Charles Darwin's Origin of Species as an endorsement, rather than merely a description, of individualism and competition, in Descent of Man (1871) Darwin intended to show that natural selection could account for the most noble aspects of human morality and conscience. He did so in response to Alfred Russel Wallace's 1869 statement to the contrary. In doing so, Darwin appealed to the natural selection of groups rather than individuals, and to the maternal, parental and filial instincts, as the origin of truly other-regarding moral sentiments. Further, the inheritance of acquired characters and sexual selection had important implications for Darwin's understanding of how other-regarding ethics might prevail in an evolutionary framework that seemed to reward self-interest. In a short addendum to this essay I highlight just three of a number of Darwin's contemporaries who were impressed by this aspect of his work: the science popularizer Arabella Buckley, the Scottish Presbyterian scholar Henry Drummond and the anarchist geographer and naturalist Peter Kropotkin. In closing, I point to an extensive network of others who framed their concerns about both the ‘labour question’ and the ‘woman question’ in evolutionary terms, as a fruitful area for future research in this direction.

Sexual Selection, Mate Choice, and Competition for Mates

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Ingo Schlupp
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Original Formulation ◽  
Survival And Reproduction ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Relationship

Well over a century ago Charles Darwin redefined biology and introduced the theory of natural selection. One of the problems he encountered was the existence of traits, mainly in males, that seemed to defy the principles of natural selection: they did not aid its bearers in survival and were often outright detrimental. Darwin solved this conundrum by introducing sexual selection. Unlike natural selection where all individuals compete with each other for survival and reproduction, in sexual selection individuals within each sex compete with each other for reproduction. In the original formulation of the principle, Darwin recognized two mechanisms for this. Males would compete with each other for access to females, and females would choose mating partners of their preference. In this opening chapter I want to introduce the topics to be covered in the book, define some basic terms that we will need to understand the subject matter, and define the questions to be asked. My aim for this book is to summarize our growing, yet still comparatively limited empirical knowledge and theory, and to provide suggestions for future research. What interests me most is the relationship between the four forms of sexual selection and their consequences.

Darwinian Evolutionary Theory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Ruse
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
Descent Of Man

Charles Robert Darwin, the English naturalist, published On the Origin of Species in 1859 and the follow-up work The Descent of Man in 1871. In these works, he argued for his theory of evolution through natural selection, applying it to all organisms, living and dead, including our own species, Homo sapiens. Although controversial from the start, Darwin’s thinking was deeply embedded in the culture of his day, that of a middle-class Englishman. Evolution as such was an immediate success in scientific circles, but although the mechanism of selection had supporters in the scientific community (especially among those working with fast-breeding organisms), its real success was in the popular domain. Natural selection, and particularly the side mechanism of sexual selection, were known to all and popular themes in fiction and elsewhere.

scholarly journals Charles Darwin i dansk litteratur med særlig henblik på Johannes V. Jensens forfatterskab

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-200
Author(s):  
Sven Hakon Rossel
Keyword(s):  
Role Model ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Philosophical Debate ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Positive Role Model ◽  
Nobel Prizewinner ◽  
Descent Of Man

Abstract Charles Darwin’s theories were already introduced in Scandinavia in the early 1860s, whereas his two major works, On the Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871), were translated by Danish writer J.P. Jacobsen in the 1870s. Jacobsen acts as an important intermediary both as a scientist and, probably, the first Danish writer whose work is influenced by Darwin’s thoughts. But also in the writings of other authors of the time, e.g. Herman Bang, at least the name “Darwin” infrequently occurs as is also the case with the symbolist writers of the 1890s, e.g. Viggo Stuckenberg and Sophus Claussen. However, not until after 1900 does Darwin serve as an artistic inspiration and a positive role model. This happens in an overpowering manner in the fictional and essayist works of the Danish Nobel Prizewinner Johannes V. Jensen. Jensen’s Darwinism was not countered until the so-called “livsanskuelsesdebat” - a philosophical debate - during the 1920s with the eloquent poet and dramatist Helge Rode as his acute opponent. Hereafter, Darwin’s role in Danish literature decreases significantly unless one wishes to see Peter Høeg’s novel from 1996, Kvinden og aben (The Man and the Ape) as the last example of a Darwin-influence on a literary text.

The Loss of Rational Design

2005 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 235-257
Author(s):  
Friedel Weinert
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Rational Design ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
British Association ◽  
Human Origins ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Descent Of Man

Charles Darwin published hisOrigin of Specieson November 24, 1859. Whatever hurdle the theory of natural selection faced in its struggle for acceptance, its impact on human self-images was almost immediate. Well before Darwin had the chance of applying the principle of natural selection to human origins—in hisDescent of Man(1871)—his contemporaries quickly and rashly drew the inference to man's descent from the ape. Satirical magazines likePunchdelighted in depicting Darwin with his imposing head on an apish body. At the Oxford meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (June 1860), Bishop Wilberforce asked T. H. Huxley triumphantly whether he traced his ancestry to the ape on his grandfather's or grandmother's side. A wave of evolutionary texts swept over Europe (L. Biichner, E. Haeckel, T. H. Huxley, J. B. Lamarck, C. Lyell, F. Rolle, E. Tyler and K. Vogt). Written in English, French and German, they all had a common focus: the place of humans in a Darwinian world, including religion and morality.

The Loss of Rational Design

2005 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 20-21
Author(s):  
Friedel Weinert
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Rational Design ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
British Association ◽  
Human Origins ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Descent Of Man

Charles Darwin published his Origin of Species on November 24, 1859. Whatever hurdle the theory of natural selection faced in its struggle for acceptance, its impact on human self-images was almost immediate. Well before Darwin had the chance of applying the principle of natural selection to human origins—in his Descent of Man (1871)—his contemporaries quickly and rashly drew the infer–ence to man’s descent from the ape. Satirical magazines like Punch delighted in depicting Darwin with his imposing head on an apish body. At the Oxford meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (June 1860), Bishop Wilberforce asked T.

scholarly journals A Phylogenetic Perspective on the Evolution of Chromatic Ultraviolet Plumage Coloration in Grackles and Allies (Icteridae)

The Auk ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 211-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muir D. Eaton
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Plumage Coloration ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
Evolutionary Force ◽  
Evolutionary Changes ◽  
Phylogenetic Perspective ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Museum Study ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Plumage traits have been studied intensely for more than a century, especially bright and exaggerated plumage. A large body of evidence across a range of avian taxa supports sexual selection as a major evolutionary force acting on plumage colors. The discovery of ultraviolet (UV) coloration in avian plumage resulted in the extension of sexual selection hypotheses to explain the evolution of potential UV plumage traits. However, there have been no comparative evolutionary studies elucidating the origin of UV signals in birds. Here, I used a comparative phylogenetic approach to investigate the evolution of chromatic UV plumage colors in the grackles-and-allies clade of the New World blackbirds (Icteridae). On the basis of reflectance data collected from museum study skins, I have determined that UV plumage signals have evolved multiple times from an ancestral condition that lacked UV plumage signals, with very few unambiguous reversals. Although UV plumage has evolved in both males and females, there have been significantly more evolutionary changes in male UV plumage characters. Concentrated changes tests and correlations of independent contrasts reveal evidence for sexual selection of some male UV plumage characters, as well as an increase in UV plumage coloration for species found in open habitats. These results support the use of objective assessments of avian colors (i.e. spectrophotometry) to properly interpret patterns of plumage evolution generally, and they suggest the need for behavioral studies on the function of chromatic UV signals in several blackbird species. Una Perspectiva Filogenética sobre la Evolución de la Coloración Ultravioleta en los Changos y Chamones (Icteridae)

Evolutionary Ethics: Healthy Prospect or Last Infirmity?

1988 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 27-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Ruse
Keyword(s):  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
The United States ◽  
Evolutionary Ethics ◽  
Evolutionary Approach ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Herbert Spencer ◽  
Adequate Understanding ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Descent Of Man

Evolutionary ethics, the idea that the evolutionary process contains the basis for a full and adequate understanding of human moral nature, is an old and disreputable notion. It was popularized in the 19th century by the English general man of science, Herbert Spencer, who began advocating an evolutionary approach to ethical understanding, even before Charles Darwin published his Origin of Species in 1859 (Spencer 1857, 1892). Although it was never regarded with much enthusiasm by professional philosophers, thanks to Spencer’s advocacy the evolutionary approach to ethics soon gained wide popularity, both in Britain and towards the end of the century, even more in the United States of America (Ruse 1986; Russett 1976). It became transformed into a whole sociopolitical doctrine, known somewhat inaccurately as ‘Social Darwinism.’ (Scholars have long debated as to whether Darwin himself was truly a Social Darwinian, and the answer seems to depend on which of his works you read. If you look at the Origin of Species, he certainly is not. On the other hand, if you look at the Descent of Man, there are good reasons for thinking that he was not unsympathetic to the idea.

Reevaluating Female “Inferiority”: Sarah Grand Versus Charles Darwin

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Fin De Siecle ◽  
Biological Determinism ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Sarah Grand ◽  
Fin De Siècle ◽  
Descent Of Man

The figure of darwin hovered like a specter over the fin de siècle, not only the Darwin of the explosive 1859 On the Origin of Species that redirected evolutionary thinking but also the author of the 1871 Descent of Man — a less heralded work, though generating equally significant repercussions with its pronouncements on the intellectual capacities of the sexes. By linking a perceived mental inferiority of women to the mechanism of evolution, Darwin seemingly brought scientific proof to support a cultural truism. In so doing, he reinforced Victorian strictures that maintained women in a subservient state, which now could be justified on the basis of biological determinism. Yet Sarah Grand's popular 1897 novel, The Beth Book, contests the Darwinian verities, questioning the scientists' specious conclusions about sex-linked traits and identifying culture as an equally significant force determining the mental dispositions of the sexes.

scholarly journals Darwin, sexual selection, and the brain

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (8) ◽  
pp. e2008194118
Author(s):  
Michael J. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Sexual Attraction ◽  
Sensory Ecology ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Signal Design ◽  
Female Preferences ◽  
Descent Of Man ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Insight Into

One hundred fifty years ago Darwin published The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, in which he presented his theory of sexual selection with its emphasis on sexual beauty. However, it was not until 50 y ago that there was a renewed interest in Darwin’s theory in general, and specifically the potency of mate choice. Darwin suggested that in many cases female preferences for elaborately ornamented males derived from a female’s taste for the beautiful, the notion that females were attracted to sexual beauty for its own sake. Initially, female mate choice attracted the interest of behavioral ecologists focusing on the fitness advantages accrued through mate choice. Subsequent studies focused on sensory ecology and signal design, often showing how sensory end organs influenced the types of traits females found attractive. Eventually, investigations of neural circuits, neurogenetics, and neurochemistry uncovered a more complete scaffolding underlying sexual attraction. More recently, research inspired by human studies in psychophysics, behavioral economics, and neuroaesthetics have provided some notion of its higher-order mechanisms. In this paper, I review progress in our understanding of Darwin’s conjecture of “a taste for the beautiful” by considering research from these diverse fields that have conspired to provide unparalleled insight into the chooser’s mate choices.

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