Chapter 12
Mate Choice, Mating Systems, and Sexual Selection
Anders Pape Møller,
Anders Pape Møller
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Anders Pape Møller,
Anders Pape Møller
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Book Editor(s):Johan J. Bolhuis,
Luc-Alain Giraldeau,
Jerry A. Hogan,
Johan J. Bolhuis
Search for more papers by this authorLuc-Alain Giraldeau
Search for more papers by this authorJerry A. Hogan
Search for more papers by this author
First published: 21 December 2021
Abstract
This chapter deals with a discussion of sexual selection followed by a definition of mating systems and their determinants. It describes male–male competition and its consequences, analyses female choice and the adaptive and nonadaptive bases for mate choice, and discusses evolutionary conflicts between the sexes and their consequences. The chapter investigates the cost of secondary sexual characters and its ecological and evolutionary consequences and examines the reasons for the presence of multiple secondary sexual characters and their significance. It explains the sex ratio theory and how it relates to sexual selection. Mating system is the label used for describing the way in which males and females are distributed in reproductive units, and the consequences of the distribution for reproductive behavior and parental care. Intrasexual selection is a very important force resulting in the evolution of armament and greater body size in one sex compared with the other. Sexual conflict may in fact be running sexual selection.
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