scholarly journals Habitat deterioration relaxes resource competition and sexual selection in the threespine stickleback

Oikos ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 129 (12) ◽  
pp. 1773-1780
Author(s):  
Eva Henriksson ◽  
Ulrika Candolin
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Resource Competition ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Habitat Deterioration

scholarly journals Sexual selection's impacts on ecological specialization: an experimental test

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1807) ◽  
pp. 20150217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karin S. Pfennig ◽  
David W. Pfennig ◽  
Cody Porter ◽  
Ryan A. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Resource Competition ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Disruptive Selection ◽  
Ecological Specialization ◽  
Spadefoot Toad ◽  
Novel Traits ◽  
Experimental Mesocosms ◽  
The Cost

In many species, individuals specialize on different resources, thereby reducing competition. Such ecological specialization can promote the evolution of alternative ecomorphs—distinct phenotypes adapted for particular resources. Elucidating whether and how this process is influenced by sexual selection is crucial for understanding how ecological specialization promotes the evolution of novel traits and, potentially, speciation between ecomorphs. We evaluated the population-level effects of sexual selection (as mediated by mate choice) on ecological specialization in spadefoot toad tadpoles that express alternative ecomorphs. We manipulated whether sexual selection was present or reversed by mating females to their preferred versus non-preferred males, respectively. We then exposed their tadpoles to resource competition in experimental mesocosms. The resulting distribution of ecomorphs was similar between treatments, but sexual selection generated poorer trait integration in, and lower fitness of, the more specialized carnivore morph. Moreover, disruptive and directional natural selection were weaker in the sexual selection present treatment. Nevertheless, this effect on disruptive selection was smaller than previously documented effects of ecological opportunity and competitor density. Thus, sexual selection can inhibit adaptation to resource competition and thereby hinder ecological specialization, particularly when females obtain fitness benefits from mate choice that offset the cost of producing competitively inferior offspring.

The katydid that was: the tananá, stridulation, Henry Walter Bates and Charles Darwin

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio J. Bidau
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Bush Cricket

The Amazonian bush-cricket or katydid, Thliboscelus hypericifolius (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Pseudophyllinae), called tananá by the natives was reported to have a song so beautiful that they were kept in cages for the pleasure of listening to the melodious sound. The interchange of letters between Henry Walter Bates and Charles Darwin regarding the tananá and the issue of stridulation in Orthoptera indicates how this mysterious insect, which seems to be very rare, contributed to the theory of sexual selection developed by Darwin.

Sexual selection, evolution of play and entertainment

2005 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Ohler ◽  
Gerhild Nieding
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document