首页 | 本学科首页   官方微博 | 高级检索  
   检索      


Sexual selection when the female directly benefits
Authors:TREVOR PRICE  DOLPH SCHLUTER  NANCY E HECKMAN
Institution:Department of Biology 0–116, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, U.S.A.;Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Canada;Department of Statistics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 Canada
Abstract:Why do females of many species mate with males on the basis of traits apparently detrimental to male survival? The answer may lie in the fact that these male traits are correlated with male condition. We consider the argument that high male condition directly benefits female fecundity and/or viability (e.g. through lower transmission of parasites, improved control of resources, or better paternal care). Using a quantitative genetic model we show how female preferences for male traits that indicate condition can evolve, even if the male traits themselves have deleterious effects on both the male and the female's fecundity. So-called 'arbitrary preferences' can spread in this way because male traits subject to sexual selection are often under additional selection to become correlated with condition. At equilibrium the positive effects of male condition on a female's fecundity and the negative effects of the male trait on her fecundity are balanced and the female preference is under stabilizing selection. The male trait will often be correlated with viability, but not with fecundity, even though the preference evolved as a result of differences in male fecundity. The mean fecundity of females is not maximized, and can steadily decline as the male trait and female preference evolve. If the male trait has no direct deleterious effects on female fecundity, as may happen in species with no paternal care, female preferences are under continuous directional selection to increase.
Keywords:Fecundity selection  handicaps  mean fitness  female preferences  condition  paternal care  quantitative genetics  theoretical models  birds
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录!
设为首页 | 免责声明 | 关于勤云 | 加入收藏

Copyright©北京勤云科技发展有限公司  京ICP备09084417号