The evolution of female mate choice by sexual conflict

Although empirical evidence has shown that many male traits have evolved via sexual selection by female mate choice, our understanding of the adaptive value of female mating preferences is still very incomplete. It has recently been suggested that female mate choice may result from females evolving...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences Biological sciences, 2001-03, Vol.268 (1466), p.531-539
Main Authors: Gavrilets, Sergey, Arnqvist, Göran, Friberg, Urban
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological Evolution
Conflict (Psychology)
Ecological competition
Evolution
Evolution Of Female Mate Choice
Female
Female animals
Limit cycles
Male
Mathematical functions
Mathematical Models
Mathematics
Mating behavior
Models, Biological
Natural selection
Phenotypic traits
Selection, Genetic
Sex chromosomes
Sexual Behavior, Animal
Sexual Conflict
Sexual Selection
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Summary:Although empirical evidence has shown that many male traits have evolved via sexual selection by female mate choice, our understanding of the adaptive value of female mating preferences is still very incomplete. It has recently been suggested that female mate choice may result from females evolving resistance rather than attraction to males, but this has been disputed. Here, we develop a quantitative genetic model showing that sexual conflict over mating indeed results in the joint evolution of costly female mate choice and exaggerated male traits under a wide range of circumstances. In contrast to traditional explanations of costly female mate choice, which rely on indirect genetic benefits, our model shows that mate choice can be generated as a side-effect of females evolving to reduce the direct costs of mating.
ISSN:0962-8452
0080-4649
1471-2954
1471-2954
DOI:10.1098/rspb.2000.1382