scholarly journals Migration strategy and divergent sexual selection on bird song

2008 ◽  
Vol 276 (1656) ◽  
pp. 585-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah A Collins ◽  
Selvino R de Kort ◽  
Javier Pérez-Tris ◽  
José Luis Tellería
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Selection Pressure ◽  
Migratory Birds ◽  
Male Competition ◽  
Migration Strategy ◽  
Migration Patterns ◽  
Complex Song ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
First Time

Migratory birds are assumed to be under stronger sexual selection pressure than sedentary populations, and the fact that their song is more complex has been taken as confirmation of this fact. However, this assumes that sexual selection pressure due to both male competition and female choice increase together. A further issue is that, in many species, songs become less complex during competitive encounters; in contrast, female choice selects for more complex song, so the two selection pressures may drive song evolution in different directions. We analysed song in two sedentary and two migratory populations of blackcaps ( Sylvia atricapilla ), a species in which different song parts are directed to males and females. We found that migratory populations produce longer, female-directed warbles, indicating sexual selection through female choice is the strongest in these populations. However, the part of the song directed towards males is shorter and more repetitive (as observed in individual competitive encounters between males) in non-migratory populations, indicating sedentary populations, are under stronger selection due to male competition. We show for the first time that the intensity of selection pressure from male competition and female choice varies independently between populations with different migratory behaviours. Rapid alterations in the migration patterns of species are thus likely to lead to unexpected consequences for the costs and benefits of sexual signals.

Reproductive behavior

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Olzer ◽  
Rebecca L. Ehrlich ◽  
Justa L. Heinen-Kay ◽  
Jessie Tanner ◽  
Marlene Zuk
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Reproductive Behavior ◽  
Mating Systems ◽  
Insect Behavior ◽  
Sequential Approach ◽  
Evolutionary Mechanisms ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Males And Females

Sex and reproduction lie at the heart of studies of insect behavior. We begin by providing a brief overview of insect anatomy and physiology, followed by an introduction to the overarching themes of parental investment, sexual selection, and mating systems. We then take a sequential approach to illustrate the diversity of phenomena and concepts behind insect reproductive behavior from pre-copulatory mate signalling through copulatory sperm transfer, mating positions, and sexual conflict, to post-copulatory sperm competition, and cryptic female choice. We provide an overview of the evolutionary mechanisms driving reproductive behavior. These events are linked by the economic defendability of mates or resources, and how these are allocated in each sex. Under the framework of economic defendability, the reader can better understand how sexual antagonistic behaviors arise as the result of competing optimal fitness strategies between males and females.

scholarly journals Sexual Selection on male cuticular hydrocarbons via male–male competition and female choice

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 1346-1355 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Lane ◽  
A. W. Dickinson ◽  
T. Tregenza ◽  
C. M. House
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Cuticular Hydrocarbons ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Male Competition

1. Darwin’s other big idea

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leigh W. Simmons
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Egg Production ◽  
Sexual Differences ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sexual Competition ◽  
Sexual Characteristics ◽  
Sexual Selection Theory ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Selection Of

The idea that males and females often look, sound, smell, and behave differently is uncontroversial. Where those differences came from, however, and what role they play in various species—including humans—is not. ‘Darwin’s other big idea’ outlines Charles Darwin’s sexual selection theory: differential reproduction based on sexual competition, whether between the members of one sex for access to the other, or by selection of particular mating partners. Differences in reproductive parts directly involved in sperm or egg production—primary sexual characteristics—were relatively easy to explain. The other kinds of sexual differences, he proposed, could evolve in one of two ways: male–male competition resulting in weapons, or female choice resulting in ornaments, but this was highly controversial.

Sexual Selection in the Water Spider: Female Choice and Male-Male Competition

Ethology ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 117 (12) ◽  
pp. 1101-1110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dolores Schütz ◽  
Michael Taborsky
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Male Competition

scholarly journals Male-male competition and female choice are differentially affected by male call acoustics in the serrate-legged small treefrog,Kurixalus odontotarsus

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3980 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bicheng Zhu ◽  
Jichao Wang ◽  
Longhui Zhao ◽  
Qinghua Chen ◽  
Zhixin Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Female Choice ◽  
Male Competition ◽  
Playback Experiments ◽  
Sexual Signal ◽  
Sensory Discrimination ◽  
Signal Discrimination ◽  
Vocal Signals ◽  
Male Calling ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Signal Complexity

BackgroundThe evolution of exaggerated vocal signals in anuran species is an important topic. Males and females have both evolved the ability to discriminate communication sounds. However, the nature of sexual dimorphism in cognition and sensory discrimination and in the evolution and limitation of sexual signal exaggeration remain relatively unexplored.MethodsIn the present study, we used male calls of varied complexity in the serrate-legged small treefrog,Kurixalus odontotarsus, as probes to investigate how both sexes respond to variations in call complexity and how sex differences in signal discrimination play a role in the evolution of sexual signal exaggeration. The compound calls of maleK. odontotarsusconsist of a series of one or more harmonic notes (A notes) which may be followed by one or more short broadband notes (B notes).ResultsMale playback experiments and female phonotaxis tests showed that increasing the number of A notes in stimulus calls elicits increased numbers of response calls by males and increases the attractiveness of the stimulus calls to females. The addition of B notes, however, reduces male calling responses. Moreover, call stimuli which contain only B notes suppress spontaneous male calling responses. Phonotaxis experiments show that females prefer calls with greater numbers of A notes and calls containing both A notes and B notes, but do not prefer calls with only B notes.DiscussionMale-male competition and female choice appear to have played different roles in the evolution and limitation of signal complexity inK. odontotarsus. These results provide new insights into how exaggerated compound signals evolve and how signal complexity may be limited in anurans.

scholarly journals Sexual selection predicts advancement of avian spring migration in response to climate change

2006 ◽  
Vol 273 (1605) ◽  
pp. 3023-3029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire N Spottiswoode ◽  
Anders P Tøttrup ◽  
Timothy Coppack
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Migratory Birds ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Extra Pair Paternity ◽  
Early Migration ◽  
Term Change ◽  
Spring Arrival ◽  
Plastic Responses

Global warming has led to earlier spring arrival of migratory birds, but the extent of this advancement varies greatly among species, and it remains uncertain to what degree these changes are phenotypically plastic responses or microevolutionary adaptations to changing environmental conditions. We suggest that sexual selection could help to understand this variation, since early spring arrival of males is favoured by female choice. Climate change could weaken the strength of natural selection opposing sexual selection for early migration, which would predict greatest advancement in species with stronger female choice. We test this hypothesis comparatively by investigating the degree of long-term change in spring passage at two ringing stations in northern Europe in relation to a synthetic estimate of the strength of female choice, composed of degree of extra-pair paternity, relative testes size and degree of sexually dichromatic plumage colouration. We found that species with a stronger index of sexual selection have indeed advanced their date of spring passage to a greater extent. This relationship was stronger for the changes in the median passage date of the whole population than for changes in the timing of first-arriving individuals, suggesting that selection has not only acted on protandrous males. These results suggest that sexual selection may have an impact on the responses of organisms to climate change, and knowledge of a species' mating system might help to inform attempts at predicting these.

scholarly journals Artificial selection reveals sex differences in the genetic basis of sexual attractiveness

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (21) ◽  
pp. 5498-5503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas P. Gosden ◽  
Adam J. Reddiex ◽  
Stephen F. Chenoweth
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Artificial Selection ◽  
Mating Success ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Male Choice ◽  
Trait Evolution ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Mutual Choice

Mutual mate choice occurs when males and females base mating decisions on shared traits. Despite increased awareness, the extent to which mutual choice drives phenotypic change remains poorly understood. When preferences in both sexes target the same traits, it is unclear how evolution will proceed and whether responses to sexual selection from male choice will match or oppose responses to female choice. Answering this question is challenging, as it requires understanding, genetic relationships between the traits targeted by choice, mating success, and, ultimately, fitness for both sexes. Addressing this, we applied artificial selection to the cuticular hydrocarbons of the fly Drosophila serrata that are targeted by mutual choice and tracked evolutionary changes in males and females alongside changes in mating success. After 10 generations, significant trait evolution occurred in both sexes, but intriguingly there were major sex differences in the associated fitness consequences. Sexually selected trait evolution in males led to a genetically based increase in male mating success. By contrast, although trait evolution also occurred in females, there was no change in mating success. Our results suggest that phenotypic sexual selection on females from male choice is environmentally, rather than genetically, generated. Thus, compared with female choice, male choice is at best a weak driver of signal trait evolution in this species. Instead, the evolution of apparent female ornamentation seems more likely due to a correlated response to sexual selection on males and possibly other forms of natural selection.

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