scholarly journals Polyandry: the history of a revolution

2013 ◽  
Vol 368 (1613) ◽  
pp. 20120335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoff A. Parker ◽  
Tim R. Birkhead
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Multiple Mating ◽  
Mating Frequency ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
History Of ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Insight Into

We give a historic overview and critical perspective of polyandry in the context of sexual selection. Early approaches tended to obfuscate the fact that the total matings (copulations) by the two sexes is equal, neglecting female interests and that females often mate with (or receive ejaculates from) more than one male (polyandry). In recent years, we have gained much more insight into adaptive reasons for polyandry, particularly from the female perspective. However, costs and benefits of multiple mating are unlikely to be equal for males and females. These must be assessed for each partner at each potential mating between male i and female j , and will often be highly asymmetric. Interests of i and j may be in conflict, with (typically, ultimately because of primordial sex differences) i benefitting and j losing from mating, although theoretically the reverse can also obtain. Polyandry reduces the sex difference in Bateman gradients, and the probability of sexual conflict over mating by: (i) reducing the potential expected value of each mating to males in inverse proportion to the number of mates per female per clutch, and also often by (ii) increasing ejaculate costs through increased sperm allocation. It can nevertheless create conflict over fertilization and increase conflict over parental investment. The observed mean mating frequency for the population (and hence the degree of polyandry) is likely, at least in part, to reflect a resolution of sexual conflict. Immense diversity exists across and within taxa in the extent of polyandry, and views on its significance have changed radically, as we illustrate using avian polyandry as a case study. Despite recent criticisms, the contribution of the early pioneers of sexual selection, Darwin and Bateman, remains generally valid, and should not, therefore, be negated; as with much in science, pioneering advances are more often amplified and refined, rather than replaced with entirely new paradigms.

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 A LIFE-HISTORY PERSPECTIVE ON SEXUAL SELECTION IN A POLYGAMOUS SPECIES

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gao Ke ◽  
Michiel van Wijk ◽  
Zoe Clement ◽  
Martijn Egas ◽  
Astrid Groot
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Life History ◽  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Relative Fitness ◽  
Quadratic Model ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Bateman Gradient ◽  
Multiple Matings ◽  
Males And Females

Abstract Background Ever since Darwin, evolutionary biologists have studied sexual selection driving differences in appearance and behaviour between males and females. An unchallenged paradigm in such studies is that one sex (usually the male) signals its quality as a mate to the other sex (usually the female), who is choosy in accepting a partner. Here, we argue that in polygamous species these roles may change dynamically with the mating status of males and females, depending on direct reproductive costs and benefits of multiple matings, and on sperm competition. We test this hypothesis using a polygamous moth species, as in moths not males but females are the signalers and males are the responders. Results We found that multiple matings are beneficial as well as costly for both sexes. Specifically, the number of matings did not affect the longevity of males or females, but when paired with a new virgin mate every night for five nights, only 67% of the males and 14% of the females mated successfully in all five nights. The female’s reproductive output increased with multiple matings, although when paired with a new virgin male every night, additional matings beyond 3 decreased her reproductive output, so that the Bateman gradient for females fit a quadratic model better than a linear model. The male’s reproductive success was positively affected by the number of matings and a linear regression line best fit the data. Simulations of the effect of sperm competition showed that increasing last-male paternity increases the steepness of the male Bateman gradient and thus the male’s relative fitness gain from additional mating. Irrespective of last-male paternity value, the female Bateman gradient is steeper than the male one for up to three matings. Conclusion Our results suggest that choosiness in moths may well change throughout the mating season, with males being more choosy early in the season and females being more choosy after having mated at least three times. This life-history perspective on the costs and benefits of multiple matings for both sexes sheds new light on sexual selection forces acting on sexual signals and responses.

Teaching Criminology and Police Science for Postgraduate Students at the Ruhr- University Bochum, Germany

2010 ◽  
pp. 177-193
Author(s):  
Diana Ziegleder ◽  
Felix Feldmann-Hahn
Keyword(s):  
Focal Point ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Master's Program ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
New Concepts ◽  
History Of ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Insight Into

This case study looks at the postgraduate program in Criminology and Police Science at the Ruhr- University Bochum, Germany. This practice oriented course of study is designed as a distance learning course (blended learning) and therefore focuses on techniques of e-learning. The case study describes the history of origins and examines the educational situation before this master’s program was established and how an idea became reality. It is one of the very few possibilities in Germany to receive a deeper insight into criminology and police science. Despite the fact, that the students are all professionals and thus working mostly full time, the technical premises make a discourse possible as in on-campus programs. These innovative forms of learning are the focal point of the following case study. It is our aim to provide insight into how a master’s program could be set up and to promote new concepts of e-learning in the field of criminology.

scholarly journals Sexual selection after gamete release in broadcast spawning invertebrates

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1813) ◽  
pp. 20200069 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan P. Evans ◽  
Rowan A. Lymbery
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Gamete Release ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Animal Kingdom ◽  
External Fertilization ◽  
Broadcast Spawning ◽  
Males And Females

Broadcast spawning invertebrates offer highly tractable models for evaluating sperm competition, gamete-level mate choice and sexual conflict. By displaying the ancestral mating strategy of external fertilization, where sexual selection is constrained to act after gamete release, broadcast spawners also offer potential evolutionary insights into the cascade of events that led to sexual reproduction in more ‘derived’ groups (including humans). Moreover, the dynamic reproductive conditions faced by these animals mean that the strength and direction of sexual selection on both males and females can vary considerably. These attributes make broadcast spawning invertebrate systems uniquely suited to testing, extending, and sometimes challenging classic and contemporary ideas in sperm competition, many of which were first captured in Parker's seminal papers on the topic. Here, we provide a synthesis outlining progress in these fields, and highlight the burgeoning potential for broadcast spawners to provide both evolutionary and mechanistic understanding into gamete-level sexual selection more broadly across the animal kingdom. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Fifty years of sperm competition’.

Unleashing the Hidden Value of a Pipeline Through the Use of Visual Communications

1996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul B. Connor
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The People ◽  
Construction Techniques ◽  
History Of ◽  
Aboriginal History ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Insight Into

How does the communication of information affect the pipeline industry? People are becoming more aware of the pipeline industry and how it may affect individuals and landowners in the future. Corporations are producing commuications tools to alleviate the lack of knowledge and the hidden value of energy pipelines. This case study examines two projects: “Passing through Edson” examines a winter pipeline construction job in Edson, Alberta. The story is told by the people on the job. We examine the environmental issues, economic impact, Native employment, and winter construction techniques. The “Boy Chief” video examines the impact of an archaeological dig on the prairies. In this program we have insight into the aboriginal history of the area and how the pipeline company is helping people learn more about the Native way of life. The paper examine how communication tools like these, allow employees access to information when communicating to stakeholders.

Sexual conflict inGerris gillettei(Insecta: Hemiptera): influence of effective mating rate and morphology on reproductive success

2012 ◽  
Vol 90 (11) ◽  
pp. 1297-1306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Claude Gagnon ◽  
Pierre Duchesne ◽  
Julie Turgeon
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Water Strider ◽  
Mating Rate ◽  
Multiple Matings ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Genetic Mating System ◽  
Selection Framework ◽  
Resistance Traits

In water striders, the interests of both sexes diverge over the decision to mate, leading to precopulatory sexual conflict. The influence of mating rate and key persistence and resistance traits on reproductive success has seldom been investigated in the context of multiple matings. We used amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) based genetic parentage analyses to estimate mating and reproductive success in Gerris gillettei Lethierry and Severin, 1896, while allowing for free multiple matings. We tested the hypotheses that males should display stronger opportunity for sexual selection and steeper Bateman gradients. In each sex, persistence and resistance traits should also impact mating and reproductive success. Surprisingly, males and females had similarly high and variable effective mating rates (i.e., number of genetic partners), and both sexes produce more offspring when mating with more partners. As predicted, exaggerated persistence traits allowed males to mate with more partners and sire more offspring. However, we found no evidence for an impact of resistance traits for females. The mating environment may have favoured low resistance in females, but high promiscuity can be beneficial for females. This first description of the genetic mating system for a water strider species suggests that the determinants of fitness can be further deciphered using the sexual selection framework.

“Call Me Mama”

2012 ◽  
Vol 642 (1) ◽  
pp. 170-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Chihye Kim
Keyword(s):  
Participant Observation ◽  
Korean American ◽  
Immigrant Workers ◽  
Undocumented Immigrant ◽  
Power And Control ◽  
Unpaid Labor ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Control ◽  
Insight Into

Based on three years of participant observation, this article provides insight into the working relationship between a small business owner and undocumented immigrant workers at a Korean-Japanese restaurant. The case study focuses on a Korean American businesswoman who depends on the unpaid labor of family members and the cheap labor of undocumented immigrants. Using naturalistic ethnography, which consists of casual interactions and conversations with informants, the author relates the life history of the owner, Mrs. Kwon, who asks her employees to call her “Mama,” and analyzes her preference for undocumented immigrant workers. The article elucidates the ways she asserts power and control in the workplace.

scholarly journals Nauka na usługach polityki? Przypadek Józefa Obrębskiego

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Engelking
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Master Narrative ◽  
Efficient Tool ◽  
Political Views ◽  
History Of ◽  
Scientific Project ◽  
Polish Government ◽  
Insight Into

Research in the service of politics? The case of Józef ObrębskiThe paper concentrates on the circumstances of the production of anthropological knowledge, created in a dynamic tension between its cognitive goal and the way it is used for political purposes. It provides an insight into a complex network of conditions (intelectual, institutional, financial, personal, political) which determined the production of knowledge in interwar Poland within the then emerging disciplines of ethnology and sociology, in the scope of what today we would call social anthropology.This case study takes a closer look at Polish anthropologist Józef Obrębski (1905-1967), a close student of Malinowski, whose outstanding achievements remained mostly unpublished and thus never came into existence in the master narrative of the history of our discipline. In the 1930s Obrębski conducted ethnosociological field research in the Polesie region in eastern Poland (nowadays, part of Belarus and Ukraine), which was part of a large scale scientific project of the Commission for Scientific Research of the Eastern Territories. This project, financed by the Polish government and headed by a politician, general Kasprzycki, was supposed to be an efficient tool in the politics of the so called state and national assimilation of the Slavic-speaking ethnic minorities. Obrębski’s political views, which were democratic and liberal in character, were opposed to the official political line whereas his functionalist anthropological stance was unacceptable for the mainstream Polish ethnology of the era, still rooted in the positivist paradigm.Anthropological knowledge produced by Obrębski, which we would call today a postcolonial and constructivist approach, began to find recognition only after his death. The biography of this scholar and the story of his “unknown” work, a great example of a non-mainstream phenomenon in a provincial country, makes it easier to reveal undisclosed mechanisms of the system and the thought-collectives of science. Nauka na usługach polityki? Przypadek Józefa ObrębskiegoArtykuł dotyczy uwarunkowań produkcji wiedzy antropologicznej w dynamicznym napięciu między jej celem poznawczym a zastosowaniem do celów politycznych. Przynosi wgląd w złożoną sieć uwarunkowań (intelektualnych, instytucjonalnych, finansowych, personalnych, politycznych) produkcji wiedzy w międzywojennej Polsce, na polu młodych dyscyplin, jakimi były wówczas etnologia i socjologia, polu, które dzisiaj nazywamy antropologią społeczno-kulturową.Bohaterem tego studium przypadku jest polski antropolog Józef Obrębski (1905-1967), bliski uczeń Malinowskiego, którego wybitne prace w większości pozostały nieopublikowane, nie funkcjonują zatem w wielkiej opowieści o historii dyscypliny. W latach 1930. Obrębski prowadził etnosocjologiczne badania terenowe na Polesiu we wschodniej Polsce (region ten dziś należy do Białorusi i Ukrainy), w ramach wdrażanego tam na szeroką skalę programu naukowego Komisji Naukowych Badań Ziem Wschodnich. Projekt ten, finansowany przez polski rząd i kierowany przez polityka, gen. Kasprzyckiego, miał być skutecznym narzędziem polityki asymilacji państwowej i narodowej słowiańskojęzycznych mniejszości etnicznych. Demokratyczne i liberalne poglądy polityczne Obrębskiego były opozycyjne wobec linii politycznej jego mocodawców, zaś stanowisko teoretyczno-metodologiczne, związane z funkcjonalizmem, było z kolei nie do przyjęcia przez polskich etnologów głównego nurtu, przywiązanych do paradygmatu pozytywistycznego.Antropologiczne osiągnięcia Obrębskiego, które dziś sytuujemy w obrębie podejścia postkolonialnego i konstruktywistycznego, zaczęły zyskiwać uznanie dopiero po jego śmierci. Biografia uczonego i dzieje jego „nieznanych” prac, ważny przykład pozamainstreamowego fenomenu w prowincjonalnym kraju, przyczyniają się do poznania nieujawnionych mechanizmów systemu i kolektywów myślowych w nauce.

scholarly journals Estimating encounter rates as the first step of sexual selection in the lizard Anolis sagrei

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1873) ◽  
pp. 20172244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ambika Kamath ◽  
Jonathan B. Losos
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mating Systems ◽  
Multiple Mating ◽  
Markov Chain Model ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Chain Model ◽  
Anolis Sagrei ◽  
Phenotypic Differences ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Insight Into

How individuals move through their environment dictates which other individuals they encounter, determining their social and reproductive interactions and the extent to which they experience sexual selection. Specifically, females rarely have the option of mating with all males in a population—they can only choose among the males they encounter. Further, quantifying phenotypic differences between the males that females encounter and those that sire females' offspring lends insight into how social and reproductive interactions shape male phenotypes. We used an explicitly spatio-temporal Markov chain model to estimate the number of potential mates of Anolis sagrei lizards from their movement behaviour, and used genetic paternity assignments to quantify sexual selection on males. Females frequently encountered and mated with multiple males, offering ample opportunity for female mate choice. Sexual selection favoured males that were bigger and moved over larger areas, though the effect of body size cannot be disentangled from last-male precedence. Our approach corroborates some patterns of sexual selection previously hypothesized in anoles based on describing them as territorial, whereas other results, including female multiple mating itself, are at odds with territorial polygyny, offering insight into discrepancies in other taxa between behavioural and genetic descriptions of mating systems.

scholarly journals Sport Ireland Women In Sport

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 172-189
Author(s):  
Nora Stapleton
Keyword(s):  
Financial Support ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Equal Opportunity ◽  
Sports Participation ◽  
Strategic Direction ◽  
Women In Sport ◽  
History Of ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
Insight Into

The challenges facing women and girls in sport have a long history and many interventions to address these challenges have occurred over the years. It is well documented that these challenges no longer simply apply to female’s active participation in sport and physical activity but through all aspects of the sporting landscape, i.e. coaching, officiating, leadership, governance and visibility. Though time has seen improvements naturally, Sport Ireland financial support and dedicated women in sport programmes developed as a result have had positive impacts which are explored in this paper.Using information gathered through the work of Sport Ireland, its databases, commissioned reports, dedicated policies and via reports from National Governing Bodies and Local Sports Partnerships, this paper provides a more detailed insight into the history of the Sport Ireland Women in Sport programme as well as other areas that impact women and girls in sport. It tracks the evolution of the programme since the inception of funding in 2005 to how it is managed today, as well as outlining some of Sport Ireland’s current Women in Sport (WiS) projects. In order to give a full overview, information is also contained on the history of funding allocated to female High Performance athletes in Ireland. Since the establishment of funding in 2005, the WiS programme set out to, and has successfully, reduced the gap in sports participation levels between men and women. It has now grown to much more than a participation programme with the launch of a policy providing strategic direction to ensure women have equal opportunity across all areas of sport. Now the same attention and commitment is shifting to coaching, officiating, leadership, governance and visibility. The availability of funding for women in sport is an important feature of the Sport Ireland Women in Sport programme. With over €22m awarded to date, NGBs, LSPs and women and girls in society will continue to benefit from monetary grants received. While it is acknowledged that there is a lot more to do to ensure parity amongst males and females in the sporting landscape, it is the view that the work of Sport Ireland through its WiS programme continues to benefit society and is making grounds in areas where inequality, might still occur.

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