Sexual conflict
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Infanticide as Sexual Conflict: Coevolution of Male Strategies and Female Counterstrategies Open
One of the earliest recognized forms of sexual conflict was infanticide by males, which imposes serious costs on female reproductive success. Here I review two bodies of evidence addressing coevolved strategies of males and females. The or…
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Reproductive Parasitism: Maternally Inherited Symbionts in a Biparental World Open
Most species of insect, and many other plants and animals, carry maternally heritable microorganisms-viruses, bacteria, unicellular eukaryotes, and fungi that pass from a female host to her progeny. Maternal inheritance establishes a corre…
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Convergent recombination suppression suggests role of sexual selection in guppy sex chromosome formation Open
Sex chromosomes evolve once recombination is halted between a homologous pair of chromosomes. The dominant model of sex chromosome evolution posits that recombination is suppressed between emerging X and Y chromosomes in order to resolve s…
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The Genomics of Sexual Conflict Open
Sexual dimorphism is a substantial contributor to the diversity observed in nature, extending from elaborate traits to the expression level of individual genes. Sexual conflict and sexually antagonistic coevolution are thought to be centra…
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Copulatory Wounding and Traumatic Insemination Open
Copulatory wounding (CW) is widespread in the animal kingdom, but likely underreported because of its cryptic nature. We use four case studies (Drosophila flies, Siphopteron slugs, Cimex bugs, and Callosobruchus beetles) to show that CW en…
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The<i>Drosophila</i>seminal proteome and its role in postcopulatory sexual selection Open
Postcopulatory sexual selection (PCSS), comprised of sperm competition and cryptic female choice, has emerged as a widespread evolutionary force among polyandrous animals. There is abundant evidence that PCSS can shape the evolution of spe…
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Mechanisms and Evidence of Genital Coevolution: The Roles of Natural Selection, Mate Choice, and Sexual Conflict Open
Genital coevolution between the sexes is expected to be common because of the direct interaction between male and female genitalia during copulation. Here we review the diverse mechanisms of genital coevolution that include natural selecti…
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Life history evolution, reproduction, and the origins of sex‐dependent aging and longevity Open
Males and females in many species differ in how they age and how long they live. These differences have motivated much research, concerning both their evolution and the underlying mechanisms that cause them. We review how differences in ma…
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Human shields mediate sexual conflict in a top predator Open
Selecting the right habitat in a risky landscape is crucial for an individual's survival and reproduction. In predator–prey systems, prey often can anticipate the habitat use of their main predator and may use protective associates (i.e. t…
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Does sexual selection shape sex differences in longevity and senescence patterns across vertebrates? A review and new insights from captive ruminants Open
In most mammals, both sexes display different survival patterns, often involving faster senescence in males. Being under intense sexual competition to secure mating opportunities, males of polygynous species allocate resources to costly be…
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Male-biased gene expression resolves sexual conflict through the evolution of sex-specific genetic architecture Open
Many genes are subject to contradictory selection pressures in males and females, and balancing selection resulting from sexual conflict has the potential to substantially increase standing genetic diversity in populations and thereby act …
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Intralocus Sexual Conflict and the Tragedy of the Commons in Seed Beetles Open
The evolution of male traits that inflict direct harm on females during mating interactions can result in a so-called tragedy of the commons, where selfish male strategies depress population viability. This tragedy of the commons can be ma…
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Cooperation and Coordination in Socially Monogamous Birds: Moving Away From a Focus on Sexual Conflict Open
Socially monogamous birds have provided a major focus of research in the field of sexual selection, providing insight into the evolution of ornaments, sexual dimorphism and sex roles. Following important theoretical work in the 1970's, the…
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The physical environment mediates male harm and its effect on selection in females Open
Recent experiments indicate that male preferential harassment of high-quality females reduces the variance in female fitness, thereby weakening natural selection through females and hampering adaptation and purging. We propose that this ph…
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Evolution of sex-specific pace-of-life syndromes: genetic architecture and physiological mechanisms Open
Sex differences in life history, physiology, and behavior are nearly ubiquitous across taxa, owing to sex-specific selection that arises from different reproductive strategies of the sexes. The pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) hypothesis predi…
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Conceptual developments in sperm competition: a very brief synopsis Open
The past half century has seen the development of the field of post-ejaculatory sexual selection, the sequel to sexual selection for mate-acquisition (pre-ejaculatory) described by Darwin. In richness and diversity of adaptations, post-eja…
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Sexual conflict and correlated evolution between male persistence and female resistance traits in the seed beetle <i>Callosobruchus maculatus</i> Open
Traumatic mating (or copulatory wounding) is an extreme form of sexual conflict whereby male genitalia physically harm females during mating. In such species females are expected to evolve counter-adaptations to reduce male-induced harm. I…
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Gamete-mediated mate choice: towards a more inclusive view of sexual selection Open
‘Sperm competition’—where ejaculates from two or more males compete for fertilization—and ‘cryptic female choice’—where females bias this contest to suit their reproductive interests—are now part of the everyday lexicon of sexual selection…
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The evolution of sperm competition genes: The effect of mating system on levels of genetic variation within and between species Open
It is widely established that proteins involved in reproduction diverge between species more quickly than other proteins. For male sperm proteins, rapid divergence is believed to be caused by postcopulatory sexual selection and/or sexual c…
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The genomic footprint of sexual conflict Open
Genes with sex-biased expression show a number of unique properties and this has been seen as evidence for conflicting selection pressures in males and females, forming a genetic ‘tug-of-war’ between the sexes. However, we lack studies of …
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Male Seminal Fluid Substances Affect Sperm Competition Success and Female Reproductive Behavior in a Seed Beetle Open
Male seminal fluid proteins are known to affect female reproductive behavior and physiology by reducing mating receptivity and by increasing egg production rates. Such substances are also though to increase the competitive fertilization su…
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Sexual conflict drives male manipulation of female postmating responses in<i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> Open
In many animals, females respond to mating with changes in physiology and behavior that are triggered by molecules transferred by males during mating. In Drosophila melanogaster , proteins in the seminal fluid are responsible for important…
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Polyandry Depends on Postmating Time Interval in the Dengue Vector Aedes aegypti Open
Aedes aegypti is the primary vector of the dengue and chikungunya viruses. After mating, male seminal fluid molecules cause females to become unreceptive to a subsequent mating. This response is often assumed to be immediate and complete, …
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The effect of sexual selection on adaptation and extinction under increasing temperatures Open
Strong sexual selection has been reported to both enhance and hinder the adaptive capacity and persistence of populations when exposed to novel environments. Consequently, how sexual selection influences population adaption and persistence…
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Eco‐evolutionary dynamics of sexual selection and sexual conflict Open
The research framework of eco‐evolutionary dynamics is increasing in popularity, as revealed by a steady stream of review articles and a recent and influential book, but primary empirical research is lagging behind. Moreover, the few empir…
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Sex-dependent dominance maintains migration supergene in rainbow trout Open
Traits with different fitness optima in males and females cause sexual conflict when they have a shared genetic basis. Heteromorphic sex chromosomes can resolve this conflict and protect sexually antagonistic polymorphisms but accumulate d…
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Flexible compensation of uniparental care: female poison frogs take over when males disappear Open
Parental care systems are shaped by costs and benefits to each sex of investing into current versus future progeny. Flexible compensatory parental care is mainly known in biparental species, particularly where parental desertion or reducti…
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Retention of Ejaculate by <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> Females Requires the Male-Derived Mating Plug Protein PEBme Open
Within the mated reproductive tracts of females of many taxa, seminal fluid proteins (SFPs) coagulate into a structure known as the mating plug (MP). MPs have diverse roles, including preventing female remating, altering female receptivity…
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Sexual selection in females and the evolution of polyandry Open
Over the last decades, the field of sexual selection underwent a paradigm shift from sexual-stereotype thinking of “eager” males and “coy” females towards a more nuanced perspective acknowledging that not only males but also females can be…
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Evolution of Reproductive Behavior Open
Behaviors associated with reproduction are major contributors to the evolutionary success of organisms and are subject to many evolutionary forces, including natural and sexual selection, and sexual conflict. Successful reproduction involv…