Abstract
Much of the knowledge we treasure about evolution, and biology in general, rests on Darwin’s ideas about sexual selection put forward 150 years ago. In his work The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, Darwin posited two fundamental mechanisms of competition for reproduction: intrasexual competition and mate choice. Since then, we have come to understand that, along with these two mechanisms, competition over reproduction also depends on sperm competition and cryptic mate choice. In this chapter, we review what we have learned about these four mechanisms and discuss general aspects about the sex roles, the evolutionary battle between the sexes, and the overall relevance of sexual selection for our understanding of the natural world. After 150 years of studying sexual selection, today we know that with this idea Darwin not only completed the general outline of his Theory of Natural Selection, but also laid the foundations of what has become one of the most complex and stimulating fields in the study of evolution. A vital process to understand not only the evolution of males and females, but also the processes of speciation, the ability of populations to adapt to changing environments, or the evolution of sexual reproduction itself.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Genic capture is one of the processes that could resolve the Lek paradox, since most of the phenotypic variability in the expression of secondary sexual characteristics would not be directly linked to genetic variability in the alleles directly responsible for the expression of secondary sexual characteristics, but to the general condition of the individual which, in turn, would condition the development of these characteristics (Rowe and Houle 1996).
- 2.
References
Alcock J (1994) Postinsemination associations between males and females in insects: the mate-guarding hypothesis. Annu Rev Entomol 39:1–21
Andersson M (1994) Sexual selection. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Arnqvist G, Nilsson T (2000) The evolution of polyandry: multiple mating and female fitness in insects. Anim Behav 60:145–164
Arnqvist G, Rowe C (2005) Sexual conflict. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Bateman AJ (1948) Intra-sexual selection in Drosophila. Heredity 2:349–368
Darwin C (1859) On the origin of species: a facsimile of the, 1st edn. Harvard University Press, Cambridge [1964]
Darwin C (1871) The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. John Murray, London
Darwin C (1877) The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex, 2nd edn. John Murray, London
Dawkins R (1976) The selfish gene. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Diamond J (1986) Biology of birds of paradise and bowerbirds. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 17:7–37
Eberhard W (1996) Female control: sexual selection by cryptic female choice. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Edward DA, Chapman T (2011) The evolution and significance of male mate choice. Trends Ecol Evol 26:647–654
Emlen DJ (2014) Animal weapons: the evolution of battle. Henry Holt and Co, New York
Fisher RA (1930) The genetical theory of natural selection. Oxford University Press, London
Gavrilets S (2014) Is sexual conflict an “engine of speciation”? Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 6:a017723
Holt W, Lloyd RE (2010) Sperm storage in the vertebrate female reproductive tract: how does it work so well? Theriogenology 73:713–722
Hunter J (1837) An account of Mr. Hunter’s method of performing the operation for the cure of the popliteal aneurism. Lond Med J 3:594–612
Janicke T, Häderer IK, Lajeunesse MJ et al (2016) Darwinian sex roles confirmed across the animal kingdom. Sci Adv 2:e1500983
Kamath A (2016) Variation in display behavior ornament, morphology, sexual size dimorphism, and habitat structure in the fan-throated lizard (Sitana, Agamidae). J Herpetol 50:394–403
Karsten KB, Andriamandimbiarisoa LN, Fox SF (2009) Sexual selection on body size and secondary sexual characters in 2 closely related sympatric chameleons in Madagascar. Behav Ecol 20:1079–1088
Kirkpatrick M (1982) Sexual selection and the evolution of female choice. Evolution 36:1–12
Lehtonen J, Parker GA, Schärer L (2016) Why anisogamy drives ancestral sex roles. Evolution 70:1129–1135
Ligon RA, Diaz CD, Morano JL et al (2018) Evolution of correlated complexity in the radically different courtship signals of birds-of-paradise. PLoS Biol 16:e2006962
Lumley AJ, Michalczyk Ł, Kitson JJ et al (2015) Sexual selection protects against extinction. Nature 522:470–473
Möller AP, Alatalo RV (1999) Good-genes effects in sexual selection. Proc R Soc Lond B 266:85–91
Östlund S, Ahnesjö I (1998) Female fifteen-spined sticklebacks prefer better fathers. Anim Behav 56:1177–1183
Panhuis TM, Butlin R, Zuk M et al (2001) Sexual selection and speciation. Trends Ecol Evol 16:364–371
Parker GA (1970) Sperm competition and its evolutionary consequences in the insects. Biol Rev 45:525–567
Parker GA (2006) Sexual conflict over mating and fertilization: an overview. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 361:235–259
Parker GA, Pizzari T (2010) Sperm competition and ejaculate economics. Biol Rev 85(4):897–934
Pomiankowski A, Moller A (1995) A resolution of the lek paradox. Proc R Soc Lond B 260:1–29
Radwan J (2004) Effectiveness of sexual selection in removing mutations induced with ionizing radiation. Ecol Lett 7:1149–1154
Rankin DJ, Dieckmann U, Kokko H (2011) Sexual conflict and the tragedy of the commons. Am Nat 177:780–791
Rowe L, Houle D (1996) The lek paradox and the capture of genetic variance by condition dependent traits. Proc R Soc Lond B 263:1415–1421
Simmons LW (2001) The evolution of polyandry: an examination of the genetic incompatibility and good-sperm hypotheses. J Evol Biol 14(4):585–594
Smith JM (1971) What use is sex? J Theor Biol 30(2):319–335
Smith RL (ed) (2012) Sperm competition and the evolution of animal mating systems. Academic Press, London
Smith JM, Maynard-Smith J (1978) The evolution of sex, vol 4. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Thornhill R (1983) Cryptic female choice and its implications in the scorpionfly Harpobittacus nigriceps. Am Nat 122:765–788
Trivers RL (1972) Parental investment and sexual selection. In: Campbell B (ed) Sexual selection and the descent of man, 1871–1971. Aldine Publishing Co, Chicago, pp 136–179
Wigby S, Chapman T (2005) Sex peptide causes mating costs in female Drosophila melanogaster. Curr Biol 15:316–321
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
García-Roa, R., Carazo, P. (2022). Sexual Selection: Following Darwin’s Legacy. In: Bertranpetit, J., Peretó, J. (eds) Illuminating Human Evolution: 150 Years after Darwin. Evolutionary Studies. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3246-5_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3246-5_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-19-3245-8
Online ISBN: 978-981-19-3246-5
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)