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637 results for “Sexual selection”
Data from: Mating competition among females: testing the distinction between natural and sexual selection in an insect
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Data from: Stable directional sexual selection and repeatable choosiness for song preference in the Pacific field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus
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Selection for male weapons boosts female fecundity, eliminating sexual conflict in the bulb mite
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Sexual selection on a female copulatory device in an insect with nuptial gifts
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Sexual selection in wild populations of seed bugs: the role of size in pre-copulatory mate choice by females and males
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Data from: Vascularization underlies differences in sexually selected skin coloration in a wild primate
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Genetic diversity and efficacy of natural selection in spiders with pre-copulatory sexual cannibalism
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Data for: Parasite prevalence depends on female preference: Integrating parasite-mediated sexual selection and infectious disease dynamics
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Data for: Sexual dichromatism may not be a good index of sexual or natural selection in the blue cardinalids (Aves: Passeriformes).
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Data from: Fruit resources shape sexual selection processes in a lek mating system
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Pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection increase offspring quality but impose survival costs to female field crickets
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Spatial environmental complexity mediates sexual conflict and sexual selection in Drosophila melanogaster
<p>Sexual selection is an important agent of evolutionary change, but the strength and direction of selection often vary over space and time. One potential source of heterogeneity may lie in the opportunity for male–male and/or male–female interactions imposed by the spatial environment. It has been suggested that increased spatial complexity permits sexual selection to act in a complementary fashion with natural selection (hastening the loss of deleterious alleles and/or promoting the spread of beneficial alleles) via two (not mutually exclusive) pathways. In the first scenario, sexual selection potentially acts more strongly on males in complex environments, allowing males of greater genetic "quality" a greater chance of outcompeting rivals, with benefits manifested indirectly in offspring. In the second scenario, increased spatial complexity reduces opportunities for males to antagonistically harm females, allowing females (especially those of greater potential fecundities) to achieve greater reproductive success (direct fitness benefits). Here, using <i>Drosophila melanogaster </i>, we explore the importance of these mechanisms by measuring direct and indirect fitness of females housed in simple vial environments or in vials in which spatial complexity has been increased. We find strong evidence in favor of the female conflict‐mediated pathway as individuals in complex environments remated less frequently and produced more offspring than those housed in a simpler spatial environment, but no difference in the fitness of sons or daughters. We discuss these results in the context of other recent studies and what they mean for our understanding of how sexual selection operates.</p>
Data from: Assortative mating, sexual selection and their consequences for gene flow in Littorina
When divergent populations are connected by gene flow, the establishment of complete reproductive isolation usually requires the joint action of multiple barrier effects. One example where multiple barrier effects are coupled consists of a single trait that is under divergent natural selection and also mediates assortative mating. Such multiple-effect traits can strongly reduce gene flow. However, there are few cases where patterns of assortative mating have been described quantitatively and their impact on gene flow has been determined. Two ecotypes of the coastal marine snail, <i>Littorina saxatilis</i>, occur in North Atlantic rocky-shore habitats dominated by either crab predation or wave action. There is evidence for divergent natural selection acting on size, and size-assortative mating has previously been documented. Here, we analyze the mating pattern in <i>L. saxatilis</i> with respect to size in intensively-sampled transects across boundaries between the habitats. We show that the mating pattern is mostly conserved between ecotypes and that it generates both assortment and directional sexual selection for small male size. Using simulations, we show that the mating pattern can contribute to reproductive isolation between ecotypes but the barrier to gene flow is likely strengthened more by sexual selection than by assortment.
Data from: Sexual and ecological selection on a sexual conflict gene
Sexual selection and conflict can act on genes with important metabolic functions, potentially shaping standing genetic variance in such genes, and thus evolutionary potential of populations. Here, using experimental evolution, we show how reproductive competition intensity and thermal environment affect selection on phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6Pgdh) – a metabolic gene involved in sexual selection and conflict in the bulb mite. The S allele of 6Pgdh increases male success in reproductive competition, but is detrimental to S-bearing males' partners. We found that the rate of the S allele spread increased with the proportion of males in the experimental populations, illustrating that harm to females is more easily compensated for males under more intense sexual competition. Furthermore, we found that under equal sex ratio, the S allele spreads faster at higher temperature. While the direction of selection on 6Pgdh was not reversed in any of the conditions we tested, which would be required for environmental heterogeneity to maintain polymorphism at this locus, our study highlights that ecological and sexual selection can jointly affect selection on important metabolic enzymes.
Data from: Sexually-selected male weapon is associated with lower inbreeding load but higher gender load in the bulb mite
<p>Elaborate sexually selected ornaments and armaments are costly but increase the reproductive success of their bearers (usually males). It has been postulated that high-quality males can invest disproportionately more in such traits, making those traits honest signals of genetic quality. However, genes associated with such traits may have sexually antagonistic effects on fitness. Here, using a bulb mite <i>Rhizoglyphus robini</i>, a species in which a distinct dimorphism exists between males in the expression of a sexually selected weapon, we compare inbreeding and gender load between lines derived from armed fighters and unarmed scramblers. After four generations of sib-mating, inbreeding depression for female fitness was significantly lower in fighter-derived lines compared to scrambler-derived lines, suggesting that fighter males had significantly higher genetic quality. However, outbred females from fighter-derived lines had significantly lower fitness compared to outbred females from scrambler-derived lines, demonstrating significant gender load associated with the presence of a sexually selected male weapon. Our results imply that under outbreeding, genetic benefits of mating with bearers of elaborate sexually selected traits might be swamped by the costs of decreased fitness of female progeny due to sexually antagonistic effects.</p>
Common field data limitations can substantially bias sexual selection metrics
<p>Sexual selection studies widely estimate several metrics, but values may be inaccurate because standard field methods for studying wild populations produce limited data (e.g., incomplete sampling, inability to observe copulations directly). We compared four selection metrics (Bateman gradient, opportunity for sexual selection, opportunity for selection, and <em>s'<sub>max</sub></em>) estimated with simulated complete and simulated limited data for 15 socially monogamous songbird species with extra-pair paternity (4-54% extra-pair offspring). Inferring copulation success from offspring parentage creates non-independence between these variables and systematically underestimates copulation success. We found that this introduces substantial bias for the Bateman gradient, opportunity for sexual selection, and <em>s'<sub>max</sub></em>. Notably, 47.5% of detected Bateman gradients were significantly positive for females, suggesting selection on females to copulate with multiple males, though the true Bateman gradient was zero. Bias generally increased with the extent of other sources of data limitations tested (nest predation, male infertility, and unsampled floater males). Incomplete offspring sampling introduced bias for all metrics except the Bateman gradient, while incomplete sampling of extra-pair sires did not introduce additional bias when sires were a random subset of breeding males. Overall, our findings demonstrate how biases due to field data limitations can strongly impact the study of sexual selection.</p>
Cryptic sexual dimorphism reveals differing selection pressures on continental islands - Sulawesi Babbler (Pellorneum celebense) Morphometric Dataset
<p>Birds are well known for their sexual dimorphism. But not all forms of dimorphism are the same, and differences in morphology can be so subtle that they aren't detected by casual observation. We report that this is the case with the Sulawesi Babbler (<i>Pellorneum celebense</i>), the first reported instance of sexual dimorphism in this species or any of the ground babblers of the Southeast Asian islands. Our finding is based on a combination of morphometric analyses, genetic sexing, and observation of breeding condition. We highlight the utility of unsupervised clustering approaches, widely used in the biomedical literature, for the investigation of sexual dimorphism in ecological and evolutionary contexts.</p> <p>The sexual dimorphism was weaker on the mainland of Sulawesi and stronger on the continental islands of Kabaena, Muna, and Buton. This suggests that different evolutionary pressures have led the species to partition niches differently in these habitats, which separated only recently in geological history. This kind of intraspecific niche partitioning is an intrinsic part of the ecological niche of such species, one we must not miss if we are to fully understand these endlessly fascinating organisms and systems.</p>
Data from: Selection on multiple sexual signals in two Central- and Eastern-European populations of the barn swallow
Variation in intensity and targets of sexual selection on multiple traits has been suggested to play a major role in promoting phenotypic differentiation between populations, although the divergence in selection may depend on year, local conditions or age. In this study, we quantified sexual selection for two putative sexual signals across two Central- and East-European barn swallow (Hirundo rustica rustica) populations from Czech Republic and Romania over multiple years. We then related these differences in selection to variation in sexual characters among barn swallow populations. Our results show that tail length and ventral colouration vary between populations, sexes and age classes (first-time breeders vs. experienced birds). We found that selection on tail length was stronger in first-time breeders than in experienced birds and in males than in females in the Romanian population, while these differences between age groups and sexes were weak in Czech birds. We suggest that the populational difference in selection on tail length might be related to the differences in breeding conditions. Our results show that ventral colouration is darker (i.e. has lower brightness) in the Romanian than in the Czech population, and in experienced birds and males compared with first-time breeders and females, respectively. The sexual difference in ventral colouration may suggest sexual selection on this trait, which is supported by the significant directional selection of ventral colouration in first-time breeding males on laying date. However, after controlling for the confounding effect of wing length and tarsus length, the partial directional selection gradient on this trait turned non-significant, suggesting that the advantage of dark ventral colouration in early breeding birds is determined by the correlated traits of body size. These findings show that ventral colouration may be advantageous over the breeding season, but the underlying mechanism of this relationship is not clarified.
Extending the ecology of fear: Parasite-mediated sexual selection drives host response to parasites
<p>The 'ecology of fear' describes the negative effects natural enemies have on potential victims even when those victims are not consumed or infected. Although recent work has demonstrated parasites have non-consumptive effects (NCE) on potential hosts, how these effects vary within host populations is not well understood. We investigated how NCE vary based on host risk of infection and relative cost of infection by measuring the metabolic rate (MR) of naive <em>Drosophila nigrospiracula</em> exposed to an ectoparasite, <em>Macrocheles subbadius</em>. We tested two mutually exclusive hypotheses: 1) asymmetrical costs of infection drive adaptions for stronger responses to parasite exposure; or 2) asymmetrical risks of infection drive adaptions for stronger responses to parasite exposure. In this system, male flies have higher costs of infection relative to female flies due to parasite-mediated sexual selection; similarly, virgin females experience higher costs of infection relative to mated females. Risk of infection also varies among flies because mites preferentially infect female flies over males, and mites preferentially infect mated females over virgin females. Our results were compatible with the hypothesis that costs of infection drive the strength of response to mite risk. Female flies responded to parasite exposure with a 15.1% increase in MR, while exposed males showed a stronger response with a 31.3% increase in MR. Mated females increased their MR by 34.8% during mite exposure whereas virgin females experienced an increase of 61.2%. Our findings suggest that NCE of parasites can vary based on state-dependent costs of infection.</p>
Data from: Sexual selection maintains a female-specific character in a species with dynamic sex roles
The effects of sexual selection are more conspicuous among male animals, and as a result the majority of sexual selection research focuses on males. However, burgeoning evidence suggests that sexual selection also acts on females, and there have been calls for an increased focus on females. Here, we used a multivariate approach to analyze sexual selection in Kawanaphila nartee, a spermatophore gift-giving bushcricket with dynamic sex roles. Early in the breeding season females compete for males, and later, when environmental food resources are more abundant, sex roles revert to Darwinian convention. Ear size, which is much greater in females than in males, has been suggested to affect female fitness, as females with larger ears are more likely to reach calling males first under sex role reversed conditions. We tested this suggestion and found evidence of positive linear and nonlinear correlational selection acting on female ear size early in the breeding season (under reversed sex roles), but not later in the breeding season (under Darwinian sex roles). Interestingly, there was no correlation between mating success and reproductive success (Bateman gradient) at any time during the season. Together, our results indicate that even brief and circumscribed periods of intrasexual competition among females can lead to sexual selection on morphological characters, and that this selection may not depend on multiple mating. Considering the wealth of reports in the literature of brief episodes of intrasexual competition among female animals, we recommend increased study of sexual selection acting on females.
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