Presentation Details
| The adaptive significance of polyandry: a meta-analysis Reuven Dukas, Maggie L.Dobbin, Jacqueline Chen , Janice L.Yan. McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada |
Abstract
Polyandry is prevalent, but we still lack good understanding of females’ optimal patterns of mating despite their importance for sexual selection. A combination of first principles, behavioral observations, and experimental data suggest that, in most species, females would exhibit an optimal intermediate number of mates. We performed a meta-analysis to test this prediction and found that mating with more males generally enhanced female fecundity and reduced female lifespan. The net fitness effects of polyandry, however, were not higher when females mated with more than two males. Our results agree with the optimal intermediate polyandry prediction and suggest that sexual selection could operate on females more strongly than previously assumed,
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No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author.
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