Just over one hundred and thirty years ago Charles Darwin, in The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871), developed remarkably accurate conclusions about man's ancestry, based on a review of general comparative anatomy and psychology in which he regarded sexual selection as a necessary part of the evolutionary process. But the attention of biologists turned to the more general concept of natural selection, in which sexual selection plays a complex role that has been little understood. This volume significantly broadens the scope of modern evolutionary biology by looking at this important and long neglected concept of great importance. In this book, which is the first full discussion of sexual selection since 1871, leading biologists bring modern genetic theory and behavior observation to bear on the subject. The distinguished authors consider many aspects of sexual selection in many species, including man, within the context of contemporary evolutionary theory and research. The result is a remarkably original and well-rounded view of the whole concept that will be invaluable especially to students of evolution and human sexual behavior. The lucid authority of the contributors and the importance of the topic will interest all who share in man's perennial fascination with his own history. The book will be of central importance to a wide variety of professionals, including biologists, anthropologists, and geneticists. It will be an invaluable supplementary text for courses in vertebrate biology, theory of evolution, genetics, and physical anthropology. It is especially important with the emergence of alternative explanations of human development, under the rubric of creationism and doctrines of intelligent design.

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Sexual selection and the descent of man, 1871-1971

General Themes: G.A. Parker, Sperm Competition and the Evolution of Ejaculates: Towards a Theory Base. A.P. Moller, Sperm Competition and Sexual Selection. W.G. Eberhard, Female Roles in Sperm Competition. J. Wright, Paternity and Paternal Care. Taxonomic Treatments: L.F. Delph and K. Havens, Pollen Competition in Flowering Plants. D.R. Levitan, Sperm Limitation, Gamete Competition and Sexual Selection in External Fertilizers. N.K. Michiels, Mating Conflicts and Sperm Competition in Simultaneous Hermaphrodites. B. Baur, Sperm Competition in Molluscs. M.A. Elgar, Sperm Competition and Sexual Selection in Spiders and Other Arachnids. L.W. Simmons and M.T. Siva-Jothy, Sperm Competition in Insects: Mechanisms and the Potential for Selection. C.W. Petersen and R.R. Warner, Sperm Competition in Fishes. T.R. Halliday, Sperm Competition in Amphibians. M. Olsson and T. Madsen, Sexual Selection and Sperm Competition in Reptiles. T.R. Birkhead, Sperm Competition in Birds: Mechanisms and Function. D.A. Taggart, W.G. Breed, P.D. Temple-Smith, A. Purvis, and G. Shimmin, Reproduction, Mating Strategies and Sperm Competition in Marsupials and Monotremes. M. Gomendio, A.H. Harcourt, and E.R.S. Roldan, Sperm Competition in Mammals. T.R. Birkhead and A.P. Moller, Sperm Competition, Sexual Selection and Different Routes to Fitness. Index.

Sperm competition and sexual selection

Receiver psychology and the evolution of animal signals

Male-male competition and reproductive success of northern elephant seals, Mirounga augustirostris , was studied for six consecutive breeding seasons at Ano Nuevo Island, California. The conclusions were as follows: (i) Less than one third of the males in residence copulate during a breeding season. A few males are responsible for the majority of copulations, (ii) The number and age of males copulating varies with: (a) harem location and topography, (b) the number of estrous females in the harem, and (c) the number of males competing for females, (iii) Copulation frequency is related directly to success in male-male competition, i.e., social rank. (iv) The same individuals may dominate breeding for three consecutive breeding seasons. (v) Successful males die within a year or two after their reproductive peak. (vi) The reproductive success of most males is nil or low because many die before reaching breeding age and some of those that reach maturity are prevented from mating by the highest ranking males. (vii) Individual strategies have important consequences for reproductive success, (viii) Male-male competition is a major cause of pup mortality prior to weaning.

The potential reproductive success of males is much greater than that of females. Changes in colony number and composition affect the reproductive success of males as well as females.

Male-male Competition and Reproductive Success in Elephant Seals

▪ Abstract Extra-pair paternity (EPP) is extremely variable among species of birds, both in its frequency and in the behavioral events that produce it. A flood of field studies and comparative analyses has stimulated an array of novel ideas, but the results are limited in several ways. The prevailing view is that EPP is largely the product of a female strategy. We evaluate what is known about the behavioral events leading to EPP and find the justification for this view to be weak. Conflict theory (derived from selection theory) predicts that adaptations in all the players involved will influence the outcome of mating interactions, producing complex and often highly variable patterns of behavior and levels of EPP. Data support some of these predictions, but alternative hypotheses abound. Tests of predictions from conflict theory will require better information on how males and females encounter one another, behave once they have met, and influence fertilization once insemination has occurred.

Extra-Pair Paternity in Birds: Causes, Correlates, and Conflict

Feather pecking and chronic fear in groups of red junglefowl: their relations to dustbathing, rearing environment and social status

(1) We attempted to identify the possible costs and benefits of Extra-Pair Copulations (EPCs) from field observations on a colour-marked population of Oystercatchers, a long lived monogamous species, where male and female share parental care and territory defence. (2) Despite our broad definition of EPCs, only 7.0% of successful copulations by male breeders and 5.1 % of successful copulations by female breeders were classified as EPC's. (3) Many pairs first copulated more than 2 months before egg-laying. The rate at which breeders engaged in Within-Pair Copulations (WPCs) was highest in the month preceding egg-laying: almost 1 copulation per hour during low tide. Males were increasingly likely to initiate WPCs close to the period of egg-laying. Once the clutch was complete copulation rates dropped to near zero. (4) Most EPCs were observed well before egg-laying. In the month preceding and including egg-laying only 3.3% of all successful copulations by females were EPCs. DNA-fingerprinting confirmed that of 65 chicks (from 26 clutches), only 1 was not fathered by the male partner, but by a neighbouring male, which was seen to copulate with the female before egg-laying. Thus, extra-pair paternity was extremely rare, comprising 1.5% of all chicks. Fingerprinting provided no evidence for intraspecific brood parasitism or quasi-parasitism. (5) Members of new pairs (a minority in the population) were observed to copulate with more mates than were members of old pairs, for the same number of copulations observed. (6) Two case studies suggested that EPCs by males and females of old pairs may be attempts to change mate. One female switched to a new mate after 2 years of EPCs with this bird, while the other female is expected to switch to a neighbouring male in 1992, after 3 years of EPCs with this neighbour. (7) The majority of EPCs by male breeders were in their own territory, while female breeders more often moved to the territory of the male, often the neighbour. This sex difference resembles the sex difference in breeding dispersal: female breeders are more likely to switch territory when switching mate (ENS et al., 1993). (8) Male breeders whose mate was absent sometimes evicted soliciting female intruders instantly. This suggest that EPCs were not necessarily beneficial, even when there was no apparent risk of a penalty by the mate. (9) IfEPCs are primarily attempts to change mate, we predict an increase in the probability of mate change when an individual has engaged in EPCs in the previous year. We surmise that we failed to establish this relationship, because our record of EPCs was incomplete and because attempts at mate change apparently often failed due to intra-sexual competition.

Why Does the Typically Monogamous Oystercatcher (Haematopus Ostralegus) Engage in Extra-Pair Copulations?

Broods of young zebra finches were either raised by their own species or cross-fostered by Bengalese finches. Both were isolated visually from other birds at the age of 2 months. Sexual preferences of males were examined at maturity, in a choice between 1 zebra finch female and 1 Bengalese finch female, by measuring the number of song strophes directed at each. Males raised by their own species sang exclusively for the zebra finch female. Cross-fostered males raised without siblings or with only 1 sibling sand exclusively for the Bengalese finch female. A large number of cross-fostered males raised with 2-4 siblings showed at least 5% singing for the zebra finch female, and a small number did so predominantly. It is concluded that under the conditions of these experiments, the development of sexual preferences of zebra finch males is affected by both parental and sibling influences. It is possible that the earlier evidence for a predisposition to response to conspecifics put forward by Immelmann could be explained by hitherto uncontrolled differences in experience.

The influence of siblings on the development of sexual preferences of male zebra finches

The purpose of this study was to determine the role played by functional experience in the development of the dustbathing behavior system in junglefowl. Small groups of birds were raised either in a rich environment with sand and earth, or in a poor environment with a wire mesh floor. Dustbathing and other behaviors were recorded at intervals between 2 and 9 months of age. The results showed that the form of the individual behavior patterns as well as the organization of extended bouts of dustbathing developed normally in chicks raised in a dustless environment. Further, the frequency of occurrence of dustbathing and the diurnal rhythm did not differ between groups raised in the two environments. Functional experience was necessary for the development of dust recognition, but some stimuli came to be recognized as "dust" more easily than others.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/info/4534830

The development of a behavior system: dustbathing in the burmese red junglefowl i. the influence of the rearing environment on the organization of dustbathing

https://bioone.org/journals/Ardea/volume-55/issue-1%e2%80%932/arde.v55.p203/Social-Behavior-on-the-Lek-in-Black-Grouse-Lyrurus-Tetrix/10.5253/arde.v55.p203.pdf

Jaap P. Kruijt

Papers

Feather pecking and chronic fear in groups of red junglefowl: their relations to dustbathing, rearing environment and social status

Why Does the Typically Monogamous Oystercatcher (Haematopus Ostralegus) Engage in Extra-Pair Copulations?

The influence of siblings on the development of sexual preferences of male zebra finches

The development of a behavior system: dustbathing in the burmese red junglefowl i. the influence of the rearing environment on the organization of dustbathing

Social Behavior on the Lek in Black Grouse, Lyrurus Tetrix Tetrix (L.)