scholarly journals Sexual selection favours male parental care, when females can choose

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1734) ◽  
pp. 1784-1790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne H. Alonzo
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Mating Success ◽  
Current Theory ◽  
Sharp Contrast ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Extra Pair Paternity ◽  
Female Promiscuity ◽  
Male Care

Explaining the evolution of male care has proved difficult. Recent theory predicts that female promiscuity and sexual selection on males inherently disfavour male care. In sharp contrast to these expectations, male-only care is often found in species with high extra-pair paternity and striking variation in mating success, where current theory predicts female-only care. Using a model that examines the coevolution of male care, female care and female choice; I show that inter-sexual selection can drive the evolution of male care when females are able to bias mating or paternity towards parental males. Surprisingly, female choice for parental males allows male care to evolve despite low relatedness between the male and the offspring in his care. These results imply that predicting how sexual selection affects parental care evolution will require further understanding of why females, in many species, either do not prefer or cannot favour males that provide care.

Amplifiers and the handicap principle in sexual selection: a different emphasis

1989 ◽  
Vol 235 (1281) ◽  
pp. 383-406 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Genetic Association ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Mating Success ◽  
Population Genetic ◽  
Genetic Model ◽  
Genetic Models ◽  
Handicap Principle ◽  
Resolution Power ◽  
Male Display

Population genetic models have shown that female choice is a potential cause of the evolution of male display. In these models the display is assumed to be the immediate object of female choice. Here I present an explicit genetic model that shows that male display can evolve as a consequence of female choice even when the display is not the immediate object of choice. When females initially base their preferences on the existence of variance in a cue that is correlated with male viability, a rare display can evolve to fixation if it amplifies the previously recognized differences in males, (i. e. if it increases the resolution power of females with respect to the original cue). By definition, amplifying displays (or amplifiers) increase mating success of the more viable males and decrease mating success of the less viable males. Therefore, the higher the frequency of the preferred, more viable males, the more likely it is that amplifiers will evolve to fixation. The evolution of an amplifier is further facilitated by a genetic association that is built up between the amplifier allele and the more viable allele. If the expression of the amplifier is limited to the more viable males, the amplifier will evolve to fixation provided only that the change in total fitness to the more viable males (higher mating success, lower viability), is positive.

scholarly journals Sex roles, parental care and offspring growth in two contrasting coucal species

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (10) ◽  
pp. 160463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Goymann ◽  
Ignas Safari ◽  
Christina Muck ◽  
Ingrid Schwabl
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Sex Roles ◽  
Evolutionary Ecology ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Uniparental Care ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Offspring Growth ◽  
Adult Sex Ratio

The decision to provide parental care is often associated with trade-offs, because resources allocated to parental care typically cannot be invested in self-maintenance or mating. In most animals, females provide more parental care than males, but the reason for this pattern is still debated in evolutionary ecology. To better understand sex differences in parental care and its consequences, we need to study closely related species where the sexes differ in offspring care. We investigated parental care in relation to offspring growth in two closely related coucal species that fundamentally differ in sex roles and parental care, but live in the same food-rich habitat with a benign climate and have a similar breeding phenology. Incubation patterns differed and uniparental male black coucals fed their offspring two times more often than female and male white-browed coucals combined. Also, white-browed coucals had more ‘off-times’ than male black coucals, during which they perched and preened. However, these differences in parental care were not reflected in offspring growth, probably because white-browed coucals fed their nestlings a larger proportion of frogs than insects. A food-rich habitat with a benign climate may be a necessary, but—perhaps unsurprisingly—is not a sufficient factor for the evolution of uniparental care. In combination with previous results (Goymann et al . 2015 J. Evol. Biol . 28 , 1335–1353 ( doi:10.1111/jeb.12657 )), these data suggest that white-browed coucals may cooperate in parental care, because they lack opportunities to become polygamous rather than because both parents were needed to successfully raise all offspring. Our case study supports recent theory suggesting that permissive environmental conditions in combination with a particular life history may induce sexual selection in females. A positive feedback loop among sexual selection, body size and adult sex-ratio may then stabilize reversed sex roles in competition and parental care.

To persuade or be persuaded: which sex controls mating in a plethodontid salamander?

Behaviour ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 139 (4) ◽  
pp. 447-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Gershman ◽  
Paul Verrell
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Sexual Behaviour ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Dynamic Process ◽  
Mating Success ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Sexual Encounter ◽  
Plethodontid Salamander

AbstractIn the dynamic process of courtship, males often must perform behaviour patterns that function to persuade females that are initially unresponsive to mate. But, to what extent is the outcome of a sexual encounter determined by a male's persuasiveness versus a female's responsiveness? We addressed this question in three laboratory experiments using a plethodontid salamander, Desmognathus ocoee, for which persuasion by males appears to be obligatory. We found considerable variation in mating success among individuals of both sexes, indicating variation in both male persuasiveness and female responsiveness (Experiment 1). In addition, males of high persuasiveness mated more often than males of lower persuasiveness, regardless of the levels of responsiveness of the females that they encountered (Experiment 2). Finally, we found that males of high persuasiveness performed certain sexual behaviour patterns more frequently and more rapidly than males of lower persuasiveness (Experiment 3). Our results suggest that male D. ocoee of high persuasiveness can mate successfully even with unresponsive females, which may be especially choosy about which males they accept. Thus, those male behaviour patterns that increase female motivation to mate likely are targets of sexual selection by female choice. Whether females that mate with persuasive males enjoy increased fitness awaits further study.

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.

Male Parental Care and Extrapair Copulations in the Indigo Bunting

The Auk ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 105 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
David F. Westneat
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Brood Size ◽  
Current Theory ◽  
Mating Effort ◽  
Parental Effort ◽  
Young Males ◽  
Passerina Cyanea ◽  
Male Care ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Levels of parental care by male Indigo Buntings (Passerina cyanea) were predicted to be lower and the tendency to pursue extrapair matings greater when (1) the opportunity of additional matings (extrapair copulations) was high, (2) the male was cuckolded, and (3) the clutch or brood size was small. Observations of male care revealed that approximately 10% of all males fed nestlings at least once, whereas more than 30% fed fledglings. Males in their first breeding season were never seen feeding young. Males made more trips off their territories when females were fertilizable on nearby territories, but other measures of parental care (feeding young and time spent within 10 m of nest) were not affected. Cuckolded males (known through genetic analyses of parents and offspring) tended to feed young less often, but forayed off their territories significantly less than apparently uncuckolded males. Finally, males with small clutches or broods gave slightly, but not significantly, less care than males with large clutches or broods. These results suggest that the relationship between mating effort and parental effort is complicated by the presence of extrapair copulations as a type of mating effort, and that factors not included in current theory on parental care might influence a male's parental care.

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.

scholarly journals Micropyle number is associated with elevated female promiscuity in Lepidoptera

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 20160782 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graziella Iossa ◽  
Matthew J. G. Gage ◽  
Paul E. Eady
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Mating Pattern ◽  
Sperm Limitation ◽  
Female Mating ◽  
Female Promiscuity ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Unexplained Variation

In the majority of insects, sperm fertilize the egg via a narrow canal through the outer chorion called the micropyle. Despite having this one primary function, there is considerable unexplained variation in the location, arrangement and number of micropyles within and between species. Here, we examined the relationship between micropyle number and female mating pattern through a comparative analysis across Lepidoptera. Three functional hypotheses could explain profound micropylar variation: (i) increasing micropyle number reduces the risk of infertility through sperm limitation in species that mate infrequently; (ii) decreasing micropyle number reduces the risk of pathological polyspermy in species that mate more frequently; and (iii) increasing micropyle number allows females to exert greater control over fertilization within the context of post-copulatory sexual selection, which will be more intense in promiscuous species. Micropyle number was positively related to the degree of female promiscuity as measured by spermatophore count, regardless of phylogenetic signal, supporting the hypothesis that micropyle number is shaped by post-copulatory sexual selection. We discuss this finding in the context of cryptic female choice, sperm limitation and physiological polyspermy.

scholarly journals Preprint "The relative importance of intra- and intersexual selection on human male sexually dimorphic traits"

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Kordsmeyer ◽  
John Hunt ◽  
David Puts ◽  
Julia Ostner ◽  
Lars Penke
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Mating Success ◽  
Upper Body ◽  
Sexual Attractiveness ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic ◽  
Physical Strength ◽  
Human Male ◽  
Physical Dominance

Recent evidence suggests that in sexual selection on human males, intrasexual competition plays a larger role than female choice. In a sample of men (N = 164), we sought to provide further evidence on the effects of men’s physical dominance and sexual attractiveness on mating success and hence in sexual selection. Objective measures and subjective ratings of male sexually dimorphic traits purportedly under sexual selection (height, vocal and facial masculinity, upper body size from3D scans, physical strength, and baseline testosterone) and observer perceptions of physical dominance and sexual attractiveness based on self-presentation video recordings were assessed and associated with mating success (sociosexual behaviour and number of potential conceptions) in a partly longitudinal design. Results from structural equation models and selection analyses revealed that physical dominance, but not sexual attractiveness, predicted mating success. Physical dominance mediated associations of upper body size, physical strength, as well as vocal and facial physical dominance and attractiveness with mating success. These findings thus suggest a greater importance of intrasexual competition than female choice in human male sexual selection.

Cephalopod mating systems as models for the study of sexual selection and alternative reproductive tactics: a review

2020 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 375-398
Author(s):  
Lígia Haselmann Apostólico ◽  
José Eduardo Amoroso RodriguezMarian
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Mantle Cavity ◽  
Alternative Reproductive Tactics ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Reproductive Tactics ◽  
Mating Period ◽  
Alternative Pathways ◽  
Female Promiscuity ◽  
Striking Change

Cephalopods are a remarkable group for studies on sexual selection, due to their complex reproductive behavior, pronounced sexual dimorphism, polygamous behavior, as well as cumulative evidence of pre- and postcopulatory male-male competition and female choice in the group. is paper provides a review of sexual selection studies on cephalopods, with an emphasis on the loliginid squid mating system. In this system, males may adopt alternative reproductive tactics (ART) and display male intrasexual dimorphism, with each morph generally exhibiting distinct behaviors and ejaculate traits. Consort males typically transfer ejaculates to the female mantle cavity, while sneaker males typically transfer ejaculates to the female buccal region, where a sperm storage organ is located. Each site provides distinct fertilization environments for the ejaculates of each morph, differing in the availability of eggs, gamete protection, and timing between mating and fertilization. Accordingly, the ejaculates of each morph show putative adaptations for each site, differing in size, morphology, sperm release duration, and sperm behavior. Although solid evidence is lacking for most loliginids, cryptic female choice may occur in this system through, for example, spermatangia removal or egg string manipulation during fertilization. In addition, recent evidence for one loliginid species indicates that adoption of male ART is ontogenetic and may represent two alternative pathways: from immature males (i) directly to consort phenotype or (ii) going through a sneaker phase, then switching to consort morph. The second pathway would, therefore, imply striking change in behavior, physiology, and ejaculates. Moreover, data on the age of this species suggests that the adoption of sneaker tactic early in life may be associated with extending the male mating period by 25%. With such a peculiar system, loliginids should prove useful not only for comprehending the evolution of female promiscuity and ART in cephalopods, but also as an emerging nonvertebrate and nonarthropod model for testing sperm competition models.

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