THE STUDY OF INTERSEXUAL SELECTION USING QUANTITATIVE GENETICS

Behaviour ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 136 (9) ◽  
pp. 1237-1266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theo C.M. Bakker
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Quantitative Genetics ◽  
Genetic Variance ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Condition Dependence ◽  
Genetic Covariance ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Sexual Traits

AbstractIn this review, I stress the importance of incorporating Quantitative Genetics (QG) in the study of sexual selection through female mate choice. A short overview of QG principles and methods of estimating genetic variance and covariance is given. The state of knowledge is summarized as to two QG assumptions (genetic variance in female mating preferences and male sexual traits) and one QG prediction (genetic covariance between preferences and preferred traits) of models of sexual selection. A review is given of studies of repeatability of mating preferences because of recent accumulation of data. The general conclusion is that sexual traits and mating preferences show large genetic variation and are genetically correlated. The extensive genetic variation asks for an explanation that goes beyond the ususal explanations of the maintenance of genetic variation in fitness traits. Two models that explain the high genetic variance in sexual traits are treated in detail: modifier selection and condition dependence. There are many unexplored areas of QG research that could stimulate further research in sexual selection like the study of genetic covariance between mating preferences and good genes, of genetic variances and covariances of multiple male traits and multiple females preferences, of genetic variance in condition, and of condition dependence of mating preferences.

scholarly journals Sexual selection favours good or bad genes for pathogen resistance depending on males' pathogen exposure

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1902) ◽  
pp. 20190226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Joye ◽  
Tadeusz J. Kawecki
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Pathogen Resistance ◽  
Condition Dependence ◽  
Indirect Benefit ◽  
Intestinal Pathogen ◽  
Sexual Traits ◽  
Pathogen Exposure

Resistance to pathogens is often invoked as an indirect benefit of female choice, but experimental evidence for links between father's sexual success and offspring resistance is scarce and equivocal. Two proposed mechanisms might generate such links. Under the first, heritable resistance to diverse pathogens depends on general immunocompetence; owing to shared condition dependence, male sexual traits indicate immunocompetence independently of the male's pathogen exposure. By contrast, other hypotheses (e.g. Hamilton–Zuk) assume that sexual traits only reveal heritable resistance if the males have been exposed to the pathogen. The distinction between the two mechanisms has been neglected by experimental studies. We show that Drosophila melanogaster males that are successful in mating contests (one female with two males) sire sons that are substantially more resistant to the intestinal pathogen Pseudomonas entomophila —but only if the males have themselves been exposed to the pathogen before the mating contest. By contrast, sons of males sexually successful in the absence of pathogen exposure are less resistant than sons of unsuccessful males. We detected no differences in daughters’ resistance. Thus, while sexual selection may have considerable consequences for offspring resistance, these consequences may be sex-specific. Furthermore, contrary to the ‘general immunocompetence’ hypothesis, these consequences can be positive or negative depending on the epidemiological context under which sexual selection operates.

The quantitative genetics of sexual selection in the dung fly Sepsis cynipsea

Behaviour ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 141 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolf Blanckenhorn ◽  
Claudia Mühlhäuser
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Genetic Correlation ◽  
Quantitative Genetics ◽  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Male Body ◽  
Selection Models ◽  
Sexually Selected Traits ◽  
Mating Cost

AbstractIn the common dung or black scavenger fly Sepsis cynipsea (Diptera: Sepsidae) several morphological and behavioural male and female traits interact during mating. Previous studies show that males attempt to mount females without courtship, females use vigorous shaking behaviour in response to male mounting, the duration of shaking is an indicator of both direct and indirect female choice and sexual conflict, and larger males enjoy a mating advantage. We conducted a quantitative genetic paternal half sib study to investigate the genetic underpinnings of these traits, notably body size (the preferred trait) and the associated female preference, and to assess the relative importance of various models generally proposed to account for the evolution of sexually selected traits. Several morphological traits and female shaking duration were heritable, thus meeting a key requirement of all sexual selection models. In contrast, two traits indicative of male persistence in mating were not. Male longevity was also heritable and negatively correlated with his mating effort, suggesting a mating cost. However, the crucial genetic correlation between male body size and female shaking duration, predicted to be negative by both 'good genes' and Fisherian models and positive by the sexual conflict (or chase-away) model, was zero. This could be because of low power, or because of constraints imposed by the genetic correlation structure. Based on our rsults we conclude that discriminating sexual selection models by sole means of quantitative genetics is difficult, if not impossible.

scholarly journals Adiposity, compared with masculinity, serves as a more valid cue to immunocompetence in human mate choice

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1751) ◽  
pp. 20122495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus J. Rantala ◽  
Vinet Coetzee ◽  
Fhionna R. Moore ◽  
Ilona Skrinda ◽  
Sanita Kecko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Secondary Sexual Traits ◽  
Genetic Quality ◽  
Secondary Sexual Trait ◽  
Sexual Traits ◽  
Handicap Hypothesis ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Secondary Sexual

According to the ‘good genes’ hypothesis, females choose males based on traits that indicate the male's genetic quality in terms of disease resistance. The ‘immunocompetence handicap hypothesis’ proposed that secondary sexual traits serve as indicators of male genetic quality, because they indicate that males can contend with the immunosuppressive effects of testosterone. Masculinity is commonly assumed to serve as such a secondary sexual trait. Yet, women do not consistently prefer masculine looking men, nor is masculinity consistently related to health across studies. Here, we show that adiposity, but not masculinity, significantly mediates the relationship between a direct measure of immune response (hepatitis B antibody response) and attractiveness for both body and facial measurements. In addition, we show that circulating testosterone is more closely associated with adiposity than masculinity. These findings indicate that adiposity, compared with masculinity, serves as a more important cue to immunocompetence in female mate choice.

3. Choosing from the field of competitors

2018 ◽  
pp. 34-51
Author(s):  
Leigh W. Simmons
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Contemporary View ◽  
Sexual Characteristics ◽  
Sexual Traits ◽  
Secondary Sexual

There is now unequivocal evidence for Darwin’s long-rejected suggestion that females choose among potential mates based on their secondary sexual traits. This has shifted attention from the question of whether females exercised mate choice, to why they should exhibit the mating preferences they do. ‘Choosing from the field of competitors’ gives a contemporary view of mate choice and its occurrence in a wide variety of animal species, along with some examples of what females are choosing and why parasites and disease may play a role in the evolution of extravagant secondary sexual characteristics. Several theoretical models are discussed along with the role of sexual selection in the evolution of humans.

Sexual dimorphism and condition dependence in the anal pad of the small Indian mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus)

2015 ◽  
Vol 93 (5) ◽  
pp. 397-402
Author(s):  
M.A. Owen ◽  
D.C. Lahti
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Indirect Evidence ◽  
Condition Dependence ◽  
Secondary Sexual Traits ◽  
Herpestes Auropunctatus ◽  
Sexual Traits ◽  
Indian Mongoose ◽  
Small Indian Mongoose ◽  
Secondary Sexual

Secondary sexual traits tend to be sexually dimorphic, and theory predicts that such traits should also be condition-dependent in a sex-specific manner. We investigate these phenomena in a field study of the small Indian mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus (Hodgson, 1836); formerly Herpestes javanicus (É. Geoffroy Saint-Hillaire, 1818)), in the first attempt at understanding secondary sexual traits and sexual selection in this species. Small Indian mongooses are solitary and nonterritorial, and they likely depend on chemical (scent) rather than visual or acoustic signals for communication. Additionally, they possess a fleshy projection around their anus, the anal pad, thought to aid in scent-marking. Our results revealed strong male-biased sexual dimorphism in mass, skull and body lengths, canine diameters, and anal pad area. After controlling for the influence of body length, males were 31% heavier and possessed anal pads that were 68% larger than females’. Additionally, anal pad size was positively related to body size in males but not in females and was condition-dependent in males but not in females. Taken together, our findings provide indirect evidence that the anal pad might have evolved, at least in part, via sexual selection.

Broad-sense sexual selection, sex gene pool evolution, and speciation

Genome ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 1033-1041 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Civetta ◽  
R S Singh
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Broad Sense ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Secondary Sexual Traits ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
Sexual Conflicts ◽  
Sexual Traits

Studies of sexual selection have traditionally focused on explaining the extreme sexual dimorphism in male secondary sexual traits and elaborate mating behaviors displayed by males during courtship. In recent years, two aspects of sexual selection have received considerable attention in the literature: an extension of the sexual selection concept to other traits (i.e., postcopulatory behaviors, external and internal genital morphology, gametes, molecules), and alternative mechanistic explanations of the sexual selection process (i.e., coevolutionary runaway, good-genes, sexual conflicts). This article focuses on the need for an extension of sexual selection as a mechanism of change for courtship and (or) mating male characters (i.e., narrow-sense sexual selection) to all components of sexuality not necessarily related to courtship or mating (i.e., broad-sense sexual selection). We bring together evidence from a wide variety of organisms to show that sex-related genes evolve at a fast rate, and discuss the potential role of broad-sense sexual selection as an alternative to models that limit speciation to strict demographic conditions or treat it simply as an epiphenomenon of adaptive evolution.Key words: sexual selection, sex-related genes, speciation.

scholarly journals A Paradox of Genetic Variance in Epigamic Traits: Beyond “Good Genes” View of Sexual Selection

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Radwan ◽  
Leif Engqvist ◽  
Klaus Reinhold
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Genetic Variance ◽  
Good Genes

Plasticity in novel environments induces larger changes in genetic variance than adaptive divergence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg M. Walter ◽  
Delia Terranova ◽  
James Clark ◽  
Salvatore Cozzolino ◽  
Antonia Cristaudo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Quantitative Genetics ◽  
Leaf Morphology ◽  
Genetic Variance ◽  
Genetic Correlations ◽  
Elevational Gradient ◽  
Adaptive Divergence ◽  
Genetic Constraints ◽  
Novel Environments

AbstractGenetic correlations between traits are expected to constrain the rate of adaptation by concentrating genetic variation in certain phenotypic directions, which are unlikely to align with the direction of selection in novel environments. However, if genotypes vary in their response to novel environments, then plasticity could create changes in genetic variation that will determine whether genetic constraints to adaptation arise. We tested this hypothesis by mating two species of closely related, but ecologically distinct, Sicilian daisies (Senecio, Asteraceae) using a quantitative genetics breeding design. We planted seeds of both species across an elevational gradient that included the native habitat of each species and two intermediate elevations, and measured eight leaf morphology and physiology traits on established seedlings. We detected large significant changes in genetic variance across elevation and between species. Elevational changes in genetic variance within species were greater than differences between the two species. Furthermore, changes in genetic variation across elevation aligned with phenotypic plasticity. These results suggest that to understand adaptation to novel environments we need to consider how genetic variance changes in response to environmental variation, and the effect of such changes on genetic constraints to adaptation and the evolution of plasticity.

Testing the phenotype-linked fertility hypothesis in male Moor Frogs (Rana arvalis) exhibiting a conspicuous nuptial colouration

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 581-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Attila Hettyey ◽  
Herbert Hoi ◽  
Gábor Herczeg
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Sperm Quality ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Sexual Dichromatism ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Rana Arvalis ◽  
Moor Frog

AbstractThe conspicuous blue nuptial colouration of Moor Frog (Rana arvalis) males has been associated with sexual selection; it may provide females with information about benefits to be gained through mate choice. Here we investigated the phenotype-linked fertility hypothesis suggesting that exaggerated traits may advertise fertilization ability. We evaluated conspicuousness of males' colouration and related this to the number of sperm stored in their testes. Contrary to our expectation, we did not find a positive relationship between blueness of males and the number of sperm stored in the testes. We discuss this result in the light of alternative traits that may be advertised by colouration, such as sperm quality or good genes for offspring survival. We now need direct studies of female mate choice and the physiology of the blue nuptial colouration to clarify the evolutionary background of the striking temporal sexual dichromatism in the Moor Frog.

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