Mating Systems and StrategiesThis book presents the first unified conceptual and statistical framework for understanding the evolution of reproductive strategies. Using the concept of the opportunity for sexual selection, the authors illustrate how and why sexual selection, though restricted to one sex and opposed in the other, is one of the strongest and fastest of all evolutionary forces. They offer a statistical framework for studying mating system evolution and apply it to patterns of alternative mating strategies. In doing so, they provide a method for quantifying how the strength of sexual selection is affected by the ecological and life history processes that influence females' spatial and temporal clustering and reproductive schedules. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 83
... pattern it produces pose a paradox. On the one hand, the taxonomic pattern of extreme phenotypic diversity between males of closely related species suggests the action of a very strong and rapid evolutionary force. In contrast ...
... patterns of male and female mating behavior. In chapter 5, we explore the effects of female reproductive life history (multiple mating and multiple reproductive episodes) on the variance in offspring numbers among females. We show how ...
... patterns of paternal care (Clutton-Brock 1994). We suggest that studies of mating systems that focus on mate numbers and factors affecting ΔI, rather than patterns of parental investment, can lead to greater insights into how and when ...
... patterns in nature and used them to frame the central questions of sexual selection (Darwin 1859): 1. Why do males and females of the same species differ from one another, with males exhibiting morphological and behavioral phenotypes ...
... pattern of large phenotypic differences between males of closely related species suggests that the selection responsible for these exaggerated male traits was rapid and strong. In contrast, we know from microevolutionary theory and ...
Contents
1 | |
36 | |
3 The Phenology of Sexual Selection | 74 |
4 Multiple Matings and Postcopulatory Prezygotic Sexual Selection ... | 109 |
5 Female Life History and Sexual Selection | 128 |
6 The I Surface | 154 |
7 Conceptual Difficulties in Mating System Research ... | 169 |
8 Behavioral Influences on I | 208 |
10 A Darwinian Perspective on Alternative Mating Strategies ... | 370 |
11 Sexual Selection and Alternative Mating Strategies ... | 386 |
12 The Forms of Alternative Mating Strategies | 423 |
References | 471 |
Author Index | 517 |
Word Index | 526 |
Taxonomic Index | 530 |
9 A Classification of Mating Systems | 262 |