A Quantitative Genetic Model for the Origin of Mating Preferences

Heisler, I. Lorraine

doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.1984.tb05650.x

Cited by 72 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The evolution of preferences also depends on their consequences for fecundity and survival of females and their offspring (Heisler 1984(Heisler , 1985Kirkpatrick 1985;Andersson 1986;Pomiankowski 1987;reviewed by Pomiankowski 1988). When a preference has direct costs for females and no influence on heritable viability of offspring, the only evolutionary equilibrium under most conditions is extinction of the preference.…”

Section: Evolution Of Indirect Mate Choicementioning

confidence: 99%

Perspective: Indirect Mate Choice, Competition for Mates, and Coevolution of the Sexes

1996

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Abstract.-When Darwin first proposed the possibility of sexual selection, he identified two mechanisms, male competition for mates and female choice of mates. Extending this classification, we distinguish two forms of mate choice, direct and indirect. This distinction clarifies the relationship between Darwin's two mechanisms and, furthermore, indicates that the potential scope for sexual selection is much wider than thus far realized. Direct mate choice, the focus of most research on sexual selection in recent decades, requires discrimination between attributes of individuals of the opposite sex. Indirect mate choice includes all other behavior or morphology that restricts an individual's set of potential mates. Possibilities for indirect mate choice include advertisement of fertility or copulation, evasive behavior, aggregation or synchronization with other individuals of the same sex, and preferences for mating in particular locations. In each of these cases, indirect mate choice sets the conditions for competition among individuals of the opposite sex and increases the chances of mating with a successful competitor. Like direct mate choice, indirect mate choice produces assortative mating. As a consequence, the genetic correlation between alleles affecting indirect choice and those affecting success in competition for mates can produce self-accelerating evolution of these complementary features of the sexes. The broad possibilities for indirect mate choice indicate that sexual selection has more pervasive influences on the coevolution of male and female characteristics than previously realized.Key words.-Darwin, male-male competition, mate choice, mating systems, sexual selection.Received September 18, 1995. Accepted September 21, 1995 Research has largely confirmed Darwin's (1859Darwin's ( , 1871 speculations about the influence of sexual selection on evolution. Although it required more than a century to settle many of the theoretical and empirical issues, most of the scope for sexual selection as described by Darwin is now widely accepted. Here we take the argument a step farther. By using recent clarifications of sexual selection and by introducing a new distinction, we show that sexual selection has ramifications for the evolution of sexual organisms that extend considerably beyond those originally imagined by Darwin and currently recognized.When introducing his theory of sexual selection, Darwin (1859) envisaged two distinct mechanisms. Sexual selection, he wrote, "depends ... on a struggle between the males for the possession of the females." As an alternative mechanism of sexual selection, he suggested that "female birds, by se-1 Corresponding Author. Present address:

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Section: Evolution Of Indirect Mate Choicementioning

confidence: 99%

Perspective: Indirect Mate Choice, Competition for Mates, and Coevolution of the Sexes

1996

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“…The 'runaway' theory, first proposed by Fisher (1930) and subsequently amplified and extended (Lande, 1980;O'Donald, 1980;Kirkpatrick, 1982), holds that any trait that confers an initial mating advantage will tend to be amplified as a result of the preferences of females and the reproductive success of their sons until the trait becomes so exaggerated that its detrimental effects on survival outweigh its positive effects on reproduction. The 'good genes' theory, first proposed by Zahavi (1975Zahavi ( , 1977 and subsequently modified (Andersson, 1982b;Hamilton and Zuk, 1982;Heisler, 1984;Kodric-Brown and Brown, 1984;Nur and Hasson, 1984;Andersson, 1986;Seger and Trivers, 1986) claims that selection favors the elaboration of traits in males that reflect overall genetic quality and favors the evolution of discrimination by females so that they mate with the most fit males. An important difference between these two theories is that 'runaway' selection will cease to operate once the disadvantage of a trait for male survival counterbalances its advantages for reproduction, whereas the 'good genes' theory predicts that directional selection for certain male traits will continue because both male and female offspring obtain superior genes.…”

Section: Sexual Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anisogamy, sexual selection, and the evolution and maintenance of sex

Kodric‐Brown

Brown

1987

Evol Ecol

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SummaryIn the present paper we distinguish between two aspects of sexual reproduction. Genetic recombination is a universal feature of the sexual process. It is a primitive condition found in simple, single-celled organisms, as well as in higher plants and animals. Its function is primarily to repair genetic damage and eliminate deleterious mutations. Recombination also produces new variation, however, and this can provide the basis for adaptive evolutionary change in spatially and temporally variable environments.The other feature usually associated with sexual reproduction, differentiated male and female roles, is a derived condition, largely restricted to complex, diploid, multicellular organisms. The evolution of anisogamous gametes (small, mobile male gametes containing only genetic material, and large, relatively immobile female gametes containing both genetic material and resources for the developing offspring) not only established the fundamental basis for maleness and femaleness, it also led to an asymmetry between the sexes in the allocation of resources to mating and offspring. Whereas females allocate their resources primarily to offspring, the existence of many male gametes for each female one results in sexual selection on males to allocate their resources to traits that enhance success in competition for fertilizations. A consequence of this reproductive competition, higher variance in male than female reproductive success, results in more intense selection on males.The greater response of males to both stabilizing and directional selection constitutes an evolutionary advantage of males that partially compensates for the cost of producing them. The increased fitness contributed by sexual selection on males will complement the advantages of genetic recombination for DNA repair and elimination of deleterious mutations in any outcrossing breeding system in which males contribute only genetic material to their offspring. Higher plants and animals tend to maintain sexual reproduction in part because of the enhanced fitness of offspring resulting from sexual selection at the level of individual organisms, and in part because of the superiority of sexual populations in competition with asexual clones.

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“…Assortative mating can lead to linkage disequilibrium of enantiomeric production and response (O'Donald, 1980;Lande, 1981;Kirkpatrick, 1982;Heisler, 1984) and consequently to the observation of phenotypic and genetic correlations of these traits in the progeny. Because these correlations can result from a variety of causes other than assortative mating, we used quantitative genetic analyses to examine the extent of genetic control and linkage of pheromone production and response.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The genetic control of pheromone production and response in the pine engraver beetle Ips pini

Hager

Teale

1996

Heredity

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An understanding of the genetic coordination of signal and response in communication systems is an elusive quest in many organisms. Two hypotheses currently exist to explain the mechanism of coordination and its evolution: (1) signal-response systems are a result of pleiotropic effects of a gene or genes controlling the neural network underlying both or, (2) independent genes produce the signal and response and selection acts similarly on the traits.In this study, we tested the hypothesis that independently assorting genes control the production of, and response to, a sex pheromone in the pine engraver beetle, Ips pini. We measured the genetic correlation of production and response in sons from two situations: wild-caught pairs where there was some level of assortative mating and after five generations of forced 'no choice' mating. If production and response are a result of pleiotropy then there should be no breakdown in the genetic correlation of the two traits under the 'no choice' mating. Both pheromone production by males and the response to it by males and females are highly heritable. Male response appears to be genetically unlinked to pheromone production; therefore it is likely that the traits are not a result of pleiotropy. Instead, assortative mating may maintain the phenotypic correlation between the pheromone blend produced and the blend to which that individual responds.

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A Quantitative Genetic Model for the Origin of Mating Preferences

Cited by 72 publications

References 15 publications

Perspective: Indirect Mate Choice, Competition for Mates, and Coevolution of the Sexes

Perspective: Indirect Mate Choice, Competition for Mates, and Coevolution of the Sexes

Anisogamy, sexual selection, and the evolution and maintenance of sex

The genetic control of pheromone production and response in the pine engraver beetle Ips pini

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