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637 results for “Selection: sexual”
Data from: Sex differences in parental care: gametic investment, sexual selection and social environment
Male and female parents often provide different type and amount of care to their offspring. Three major drivers have been proposed to explain parental sex roles: (i) differential gametic investment by males and females that precipitates into sex difference in care, (ii) different intensity of sexual selection acting on males and females, and (iii) biased social environment that facilitates the more common sex to provide more care. Here we provide the most comprehensive assessment of these hypotheses using detailed parental care data from 792 bird species covering 126 families. We found no evidence for the gametic investment hypothesis: neither gamete sizes nor gamete production by males relative to females was related to sex difference in parental care. However, sexual selection correlated with parental sex roles, because the male share in care relative to female decreased with both extra-pair paternity and frequency of polygamy. Parental sex roles were also related to social environment, because male parental care increased with male-biased adult sex ratios. Taken together, our results are consistent with recent theories suggesting that gametic investment is not tied to parental sex roles, and highlight the importance of both sexual selection and adult sex ratios in influencing parental sex roles.
Data from: Evolution of female multiple mating: a quantitative model of the "sexually-selected sperm" hypothesis
Explaining the evolution and maintenance of polyandry remains a key challenge in evolutionary ecology. One appealing explanation is the sexually-selected sperm (SSS) hypothesis, which proposes that polyandry evolves due to indirect selection stemming from positive genetic covariance with male fertilization efficiency, and hence with a male's success in post-copulatory competition for paternity. However, the SSS hypothesis relies on verbal analogy with 'sexy-son' models explaining co-evolution of female preferences for male displays, and explicit models that validate the basic SSS principle are surprisingly lacking. We developed analogous genetically-explicit individual-based models describing the SSS and 'sexy-son' processes. We show that the analogy between the two is only partly valid, such that the genetic correlation arising between polyandry and fertilization efficiency is generally smaller than that arising between preference and display, resulting in less reliable co-evolution. Importantly, indirect selection was too weak to cause polyandry to evolve in the presence of negative direct selection. Negatively-biased mutations on fertilization efficiency did not generally rescue runaway evolution of polyandry unless realized fertilization was highly skewed towards a single male, and co-evolution was even weaker given random mating-order effects on fertilization. Our models suggest that the SSS process is, on its own, unlikely to generally explain the evolution of polyandry.
Data from: Population demography and heterozygosity-fitness correlations in natural guppy populations: an examination using sexually selected fitness traits
Heterozygosity-fitness correlations (HFCs) have been examined in a wide diversity of contexts, and the results are often used to infer the role of inbreeding in natural populations. Although population demography, reflected in population-level genetic parameters such as allelic diversity or identity disequilibrium, is expected to play a role in the emergence and detectability of HFCs, direct comparisons of variation in HFCs across many populations of the same species, with different genetic histories, are rare. Here, we examined the relationship between individual microsatellite heterozygosity and a range of sexually selected traits in 660 male guppies from 22 natural populations in Trinidad. Similar to previous studies, observed HFCs were weak overall. However, variation in HFCs among populations was high for some traits (although these variances were not statistically different from zero). Population-level genetic parameters, specifically genetic diversity levels (number of alleles, observed/expected heterozygosity) and measures of identity disequilibrium (g2 and heterozygosity-heterozygosity correlations) were not associated with variation in population-level HFCs. This latter result indicates that these metrics do not necessarily provide a reliable predictor of HFC effect sizes across populations. Importantly, diversity and identity disequilibrium statistics were not correlated, providing empirical evidence that these metrics capture different essential characteristics of populations. A complex genetic architecture likely underpins multiple fitness traits, including those associated with male fitness, which may have reduced our ability to detect HFCs in guppy populations. Further advances in this field would benefit from additional research to determine the demographic contexts in which HFCs are most likely to occur.
Data from: Sexual selection and the evolution of male and female cognition: a test using experimental evolution in seed beetles
The mating system is thought to be important in shaping animal intelligence and sexual selection has been depicted as a driver of cognitive evolution, either directly by promoting superior cognitive ability during mate competition, or indirectly via genic capture of sexually selected traits. However, it remains unclear if intensified sexual selection leads to general improvements in cognitive abilities. Here, we evaluated this hypothesis by applying experimental evolution in seed beetles. Replicate lines, maintained for 35 generations of either enforced monogamy (eliminating sexual selection) or polygamy, were challenged to locate and discriminate among mates (male assays) or host seeds (female assays) in a spatial chemo-sensory learning task. All lines displayed learning between trials. Moreover, polygamous males outperformed monogamous males, providing evidence that sexual selection can lead to the evolution of improved male cognition. However, there were no differences between regimes in rates of male learning, and polygamous females showed no improvement in host search and even signs of reduced learning. Hence, sexual selection increased performance in cognitively demanding mate search, but it did not lead to general increases in cognitive abilities. We discuss the possibility that sexually antagonistic selection is an important factor maintaining abundant genetic variation in cognitive traits.
Data from: Conspecific sperm precedence is reinforced, but postcopulatory sexual selection weakened, in sympatric populations of Drosophila
Sexual selection can accelerate speciation by driving the evolution of reproductive isolation, but forces driving speciation could also reciprocally feedback on sexual selection. This might be particularly important in the context of 'reinforcement', where selection acts directly to increase prezygotic barriers to reduce the cost of heterospecific matings. Using assays of sperm competition within and between two sister species, we show a signature of reinforcement where these species interact: populations of Drosophila pseudoobscura that co-occur with sister species D. persimilis have an elevated ability to outcompete heterospecific sperm, consistent with selection for increased postcopulatory isolation. We also find these D. pseudoobscura populations have decreased sperm competitive ability against conspecifics, reducing the opportunity for sexual selection within these populations. Our findings demonstrate that direct selection to increase reproductive isolation against other species can compromise the efficacy of sexual selection within species, a collateral effect of reproductive traits responding to heterospecific interactions.
Data from: Sexual, fecundity, and viability selection on flower size and number in a sexually dimorphic plant
The evolution of sexual dimorphism will depend on how sexual, fecundity and viability selection act within each sex, with the different forms of selection potentially operating in opposing directions. We examined selection in the dioecious plant Silene latifolia using planted arrays of selection lines that differed in flower size (small vs. large). In this species a flower size/number tradeoff exists within each sex, and males produce smaller and more numerous flowers than females. Moreover, floral traits are genetically correlated with leaf physiology. Sexual selection favoring males in the small-flower line occurred via greater overlap in the timing of flower output between males from this line and females. Fecundity selection favored males with high flower production, as siring success was proportionate to pollen production. Viability selection opposed sexual selection, favoring males from the large-flower line. In females, fecundity and viability selection operated in the same direction, favoring those from the large-flower line via greater seed production and survival. These results concur with the pattern of floral sexual dimorphism. Together with previous results they suggest that the outcome of the different forms of selection will be environmentally dependent, and therefore help to explain variation among populations in sexually dimorphic traits.
Data from: Spatial and temporal patterns of nest distribution influences sexual selection in a marine fish
In many species, the natural distribution of material resources important for reproduction can profoundly impact reproductive success among individuals and, hence, the opportunity and intensity of sexual selection. Here, we report on a field-based experiment investigating the effects of nest aggregation on sexual selection in a fish, the sand goby (Pomatoschistus minutus). We found that the distribution of potential nests (sparse versus aggregated nest treatments) affected patterns of nest colonization and reproductive success. Specifically, in the treatment with aggregated nesting resources, a greater proportion of nests remained unoccupied by sand goby males. Although the size of nesting males did not differ between treatments, eggs accumulated more rapidly when nests were sparsely distributed. We found that the opportunity for selection decreased over time with the accumulation of eggs in the nests in both the aggregated and sparse treatments. Moreover, the effect of male size on reproductive success was influenced by an interaction between nest distribution and time, with the selection gradient being highest right after nest colonization when nests were aggregated, while the opposite pattern was observed in the sparse nest treatment. Such findings highlight the vital role that environmental and social factors can play in determining the importance of male phenotypic traits (in this case, male size). More broadly, our results also underscore how the natural distribution of resources, both in space and time, can impact the strength of sexual selection acting on wild animal populations.
Data from: Sexual selection on skeletal shape in Carnivora
Lifetime reproductive success of males is often dependent upon the ability to physically compete for mates. However, species variation in social structure leads to differences in the relative importance of intraspecific aggression. Here we present a large comparative data set on sexual dimorphism in skeletal shape in Carnivora to test the hypotheses that carnivorans exhibit sexual dimorphism in skeletal anatomy that is reflective of greater specialization for physical aggression in males relative to females and that this dimorphism is associated with the intensity of sexual selection. We tested these hypotheses using a set of functional indices predicted to improve aggressive performance. Our results indicate that skeletal shape dimorphism is widespread within our sample. Functional traits thought to enhance aggressive performance are more pronounced in males. Phylogenetic model selection suggests that the evolution of this dimorphism is driven by sexual selection, with the best-fitting model indicating greater dimorphism in polygynous versus non-polygynous species. Skeletal shape dimorphism is correlated with body size dimorphism, a common indicator of the intensity of male-male competition, but not with mean body size. These results represent the first evidence of sexual dimorphism in the primary locomotor system of a large sample of mammals.
Data from: Sexual selection and population divergence I: the influence of socially flexible cuticular hydrocarbon expression in male field crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus)
Debates about how coevolution of sexual traits and preferences might promote evolutionary diversification have permeated speciation research for over a century. Recent work demonstrates that the expression of such traits can be sensitive to variation in the social environment. Here we examined social flexibility in a sexually selected male trait – cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) profiles – in the field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus and tested whether population genetic divergence predicts the extent or direction of social flexibility in allopatric populations. We manipulated male crickets' social environments during rearing and then characterised CHC profiles. CHC signatures varied considerably across populations and also in response to the social environment, but our prediction that increased social flexibility would be selected in more recently founded populations exposed to fluctuating demographic environments was unsupported. Furthermore, models examining the influence of drift and selection failed to support a role of sexual selection in driving population divergence in CHC profiles. Variation in social environments might alter the dynamics of sexual selection, but our results align with theoretical predictions that the role social flexibility plays in modulating evolutionary divergence depends critically on whether responses to variation in the social environment are homogeneous across populations, or whether gene-by-social-environment interactions occur.
Data from: Postcopulatory sexual selection influences baculum evolution in primates and carnivores
The extreme morphological variability of the baculum across mammals is thought to be the result of sexual selection (particularly, high levels of postcopulatory selection). However, the evolutionary trajectory of the mammalian baculum is little studied and evidence for the adaptive function of the baculum has so far been elusive. Here, we use Markov chain Monte Carlo methods implemented in a Bayesian phylogenetic framework to reconstruct baculum evolution across the mammalian class and investigate the rate of baculum length evolution within the primate order. We then test the effects of testes mass (postcopulatory sexual selection), polygamy, seasonal breeding and intromission duration on the baculum in primates and carnivores. The ancestral mammal did not have a baculum, but both ancestral primates and carnivores did. No relationship was found between testes mass and baculum length in either primates or carnivores. Intromission duration correlated with baculum presence over the course of primate evolution, and prolonged intromission predicts significantly longer bacula in extant primates and carnivores. Both polygamous and seasonal breeding systems predict significantly longer bacula in primates. These results suggest the baculum plays an important role in facilitating reproductive strategies in populations with high levels of postcopulatory sexual selection.
Data from: The complex interplay of sex allocation and sexual selection
It is well recognised that sex allocation strategies can be influenced by sexual selection, when females adjust offspring sex ratios in response to their mates' attractiveness. Yet the reciprocal influence of strategic sex allocation on processes of sexual selection has only recently been revealed. Recent theoretical work demonstrates that sex allocation weakens selection for female preferences, leading to the decline of male traits. However, these results have been derived assuming that females have perfect knowledge of mate attractiveness and precise control over cost-free allocation. Relaxing these assumptions highlights the importance of another feedback: that adaptive sex allocation must become difficult to maintain as traits and preferences decline. When sex allocation strategies erode not only traits and preferences but also their own selective advantage, predictions can no longer be expressed as a simple linear correlation between ornament exaggeration and adaptive sex allocation. Instead, strongest sex ratio biases may be found at intermediate trait levels.
Data from: Sexual selection in a hermaphroditic plant through female reproductive success
Sexual selection is well accepted as a mechanism of shaping traits in animals. However, whether and how floral traits are sexually selected in hermaphroditic plants remains less clear. Here, we use Passiflora incarnata to address how floral traits that affect pollination success are selected via female function. We manipulated the ecological context by limiting pollination and adding resources to expand the phenotypic distribution and alter the intensity of sexual selection. Total sexual selection favoured lower style deflexion because of its impact on pollen receipt and subsequent seed number. However, total selection on style deflexion was not significant, indicating additional selection on style deflexion through routes other than mating. Limited pollination and enhanced resources were expected to alter the distribution of pollen deposition and seed production and therefore intensify the Bateman gradient – the relationship between pollen receipt and seed production. Indeed, the Bateman gradient was strongest when pollination was limited, suggesting potential for sexual selection to influence floral trait evolution under these conditions. Overall, we found floral traits may be shaped by sexual selection through female reproductive success in this hermaphroditic plant. These results support manipulations to enhance the variance in mating as a mechanism to understand patterns of sexual selection.
Data from: Sexual selection, body mass, and molecular evolution interact to predict diversification in birds
Sexual selection is a powerful agent of evolution, driving microevolutionary changes in the genome and macroevolutionary rates of lineage diversification. The mechanisms by which sexual selection might influence macroevolution remain poorly understood. For example, sexual selection might drive positive selection for key adaptations that facilitate diversification. Furthermore, sexual selection might be a general driver of molecular evolutionary rate. We lay out some of the potential mechanisms that create a link between sexual selection and diversification, based on causal effects on other life-history traits such as body mass and the rate of molecular evolution. Birds are ideally suited for testing the importance of these relationships because of their diverse reproductive systems and the multiple evolutionary radiations that have produced their astounding modern diversity. We show that sexual selection (measured as the degree of polygyny) interacts with the rate of molecular evolution and with body mass to predict species richness at the genus level. A high degree of polygyny and rapid molecular evolution are positively associated with the net rate of diversification, with the two factors being especially important for explaining diversification in large-bodied taxa. Our findings further suggest that mutation rates underpin some of the macroevolutionary effects of sexual selection. We synthesize the existing theory on sexual selection as a force for diversity and propose avenues for exploring this association using genome data.
Data from: Selection on learning performance results in the correlated evolution of sexual dimorphism in life history
The evolution of learning can be constrained by trade-offs. As male and female life-histories often diverge, the relationship between learning and fitness may differ between the sexes. However, because sexes share much of their genome, intersexual genetic correlations can prevent males and females from reaching their sex-specific optima resulting in intralocus sexual conflict (IaSC). To investigate if IaSC constraints sex-specific evolution of learning we selected Caenorhabditis remanei nematode females for increased or decreased olfactory learning performance and measured learning, lifespan (in mated and virgin worms), reproduction and locomotory activity in both sexes. Males from downward-selected female lines had higher locomotory activity and longer virgin lifespan but sired fewer progeny than males from upward-selected female lines. In contrast, we found no effect of selection on female reproduction and downward-selected females showed higher locomotory activity but lived shorter as virgins than upward-selected females. Strikingly, selection on learning performance led to the reversal of sexual dimorphism in virgin lifespan. We thus show sex-specific trade-offs between learning, reproduction and lifespan. Our results support the hypothesis that selection on learning performance can shape the evolution of sexually dimorphic life-histories via sex-specific genetic correlations.
Data from: Reducing mutation load through sexual selection on males
Mutation load is a key parameter in evolutionary theories, but relatively little empirical information exists on the mutation load of populations, or the elimination of this load through selection. We manipulated the opportunity for sexual selection within a mutation accumulation divergence experiment to determine how sexual selection on males affected the accumulation of mutations contributing to sexual and non-sexual fitness. Sexual selection prevented the accumulation of mutations affecting male mating success, the target trait, as well as reducing mutation load on productivity, a non-sexual fitness component. Mutational correlations between mating success and productivity (estimated in the absence of sexual selection) were positive. Sexual selection significantly reduced these fitness component correlations. Male mating success significantly diverged between sexual selection treatments, consistent with the fixation of genetic differences. However, the rank of the treatments was not consistent across assays, indicating that the mutational effects on mating success were conditional on biotic and abiotic context. Our experiment suggests that greater insight into the genetic targets of natural and sexual selection can be gained by focusing on mutational rather than standing genetic variation, and on the behavior of trait variances rather than means.
Data from: Sexual selection across sensory modalities: female choice of male behavioral and gustatory displays
The role of cuticular hydrocarbons in sexual displays has received considerable interest over the last two decades. For example, multiple studies have documented significant directional and nonlinear sexual selection acting on the cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of both male and female insects. The majority of these studies have excluded other sensory modalities that may influence attractiveness, and measured selection using laboratory raised individuals. Furthermore, much of this work has been conducted using drosophilid fruit flies and crickets, and investigations using different taxa are necessary to improve our understanding of broader taxonomic trends. Here we extend our understanding of sexual selection on cuticular hydrocarbons by measuring selection imposed by female mate choice on male bull-horned dung beetles, Onthophagus taurus. Both male and female beetles used in our study were collected from the field, ensuring that our estimates of selection incorporated some degree of naturally occurring variation in both cuticular hydrocarbon profiles and female mate preferences. Consistent with previous studies on this species, we found significant directional selection on male courtship displays. We also found significant nonlinear selection on the male cuticular hydrocarbon profile acting independently of the influence of behavioral courtship. Our data are consistent with a role for cuticular hydrocarbons in the mating system of this species and suggest that female O. taurus use multiple sensory modalities to assess different aspects of male quality.
Data from: Experimental contact zones reveal causes and targets of sexual selection in hybridizing lizards
Divergence in sexually selected traits in allopatry should affect the degree and direction of hybridization. However, few studies have established the causes and targets of sexual selection during secondary contact. Common wall lizards (Podarcis muralis) from north-central Italy have highly exaggerated male sexual traits compared to populations in Western Europe. Using experimental populations, we show that this creates asymmetries in male dominance, spatial habitat use and reproductive success upon secondary contact. Hybridization occurred almost exclusively between males of the Italian lineage and females of the Western European lineage. We provide evidence to suggest stronger ongoing selection on male sexual traits within the dominant Italian lineage. However, these same characters did not predict hybridization, and hybrid matings contributed little to variance in male reproductive success. Instead, most hybrid offspring were sired by Italian males displaying phenotypes associated with lower within-lineage reproductive success. Thus, highly directional hybridization arises because some Italian males are out-competed within their own lineage but remain competitive relative to males of the other lineage. This pattern of hybridization is consistent with the direction of introgression in natural contact zones, but our data suggest that sexual selection acting through hybridization may be weak at the leading edge of natural hybrid zones.
Data from: Lineages evolved under stronger sexual selection show superior ability to invade conspecific competitor populations
Despite limitations on offspring production, almost all multicellular species use sex to reproduce. Sex gives rise to sexual selection, a widespread force operating through competition and choice within reproduction, however, it remains unclear whether sexual selection is beneficial for total lineage fitness, or if it acts as a constraint. Sexual selection could be a positive force because of selection on improved individual condition and purging of mutation load, summing into lineages with superior fitness. On the other hand, sexual selection could negate potential net fitness through the actions of sexual conflict, or because of tensions between investment in sexually selected and naturally selected traits. Here, we explore these ideas using a multigenerational invasion challenge to measure consequences of sexual selection for the overall net fitness of a lineage. After applying experimental evolution under strong versus weak regimes of sexual selection for 77 generations with the flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, we measured the overall ability of introductions from either regime to invade into conspecific competitor populations across eight generations. Results showed that populations from stronger sexual selection backgrounds had superior net fitness, invading more rapidly and completely than counterparts from weak sexual selection backgrounds. Despite comprising only 10% of each population at the start of the invasion experiment, colonizations from strong sexual selection histories eventually achieved near total introgression, almost completely eliminating the original competitor genotype. Population genetic simulations using the design and parameters of our experiment indicate that this invasion superiority could be explained if strong sexual selection had improved both juvenile and adult fitness, in both sexes. Using a combination of empirical and modeling approaches, our findings therefore reveal positive and wide-reaching impacts of sexual selection for net population fitness when facing the broad challenge of invading competitor populations across multiple generations.
Data from: Eco-evolutionary dynamics of sexual selection and sexual conflict
1.The research framework of eco‐evolutionary dynamics is increasing in popularity, as revealed by a steady stream of review articles and a recent and influential book, but primary empirical research is lagging behind. Moreover, the few empirical case studies demonstrating eco‐evolutionary dynamics might not be entirely representative. 2.Much current research on eco‐evolutionary dynamics is focused on how ecological interactions lead to natural selection on phenotypic traits ("eco‐evo"), and in turn how the evolutionary change in such traits feed back on ecological dynamics ("evo‐eco"). A key feature of eco‐evolutionary dynamics is thus a feedback loop between ecology (e. g. population dynamics) and evolution (i. e. genetic change). 3.In contrast to previous research on eco‐evolutionary dynamics driven by natural selection, the role of eco‐evolutionary feedbacks in sexual selection and sexual conflict are largely unknown. Here, I review theory and the limited empirical evidence in this area and identify some promising future lines of research. 4.I update a past review on contemporary evolution of secondary sexual traits in natural populations and formulate six explicit and rigorous criteria for contemporary evolution of secondary sexual traits by natural or sexual selection or sexual conflict. I then discuss the other key prediction of eco‐evolutionary dynamics (i. e. evolution by sexual selection or sexual conflict shapes ecological dynamics). My overview reveal that our current knowledge in this area is limited and mainly come from theoretical models and laboratory experiments. 5.A major challenge in eco‐evolutionary dynamics is therefore to link ecological and population dynamics with sexual selection and sexual conflict. This is not an easy task but might be possible with carefully chosen study systems and methods.
Data from: Sexual selection shapes development and maturation rates in Drosophila
Explanations for the evolution of delayed maturity usually invoke trade-offs mediated by growth, but processes of reproductive maturation often continue long after growth has ceased. Here, we tested whether sexual selection shapes the rate of post-eclosion maturation in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. We found that populations maintained for more than 100 generations under a short generation time and polygamous mating system evolved faster post-eclosion maturation and faster egg-to-adult development of males, when compared to populations kept under short generations and randomized monogamy that eliminated sexual selection. An independent assay demonstrated that more mature males have higher fitness under polygamy, but this advantage disappears under monogamy. In contrast, for females greater maturity was equally advantageous under polygamy and monogamy. Furthermore, monogamous populations evolved faster development and maturation of females relative to polygamous populations, with no detectable trade-offs with adult size or egg-to-adult survival. These results suggest that a major aspect of male maturation involves developing traits that increase success in sexual competition, whereas female maturation is not limited by investment in traits involved in mate choice or defense against male antagonism. Moreover, rates of juvenile development and adult maturation can readily evolve in opposite directions in the two sexes, possibly implicating polymorphisms with sexually antagonistic pleiotropy.
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