Mate choice is an important evolutionary process influencing a vast array of traits and ecological processes. This comparison is important because many traits that might be affected by mate choice, such as mating rate, mate search effort, and responsiveness, also vary in non-choosy individuals.
Why are females generally more selective when choosing mates?
Females tend to be the choosier sex when it comes to selecting a mate, partly because males can produce millions of sperm, whereas females eggs are few and far between. Thus, females may be more selective because they have more invested in each gamete and in the resulting offspring.
How does mate selection affect populations?
In all human populations, people usually select mates non-randomly for traits that are easily observable. When they select mates for their animals based on desired traits, farmers hope to increase the frequency of those traits in future generations.
What is a good example of Intrasexual selection?
Intrasexual selection, on the other hand, occurs between members of the same sex. For example, male sea lions compete for dominance over rookeries of females. Here, intrasexual selection acts on the physiology of the sea lion, to make it large enough to compete with other males for a group of females.
Are females more selective?
First, women typically list more than three times as many traits important in their long-term mates as men do. In this sense, women in the baseline condition are more selective and have higher standards than men do.
Is assortative mating natural selection?
Assortative mating can occur without variation in mating success among individuals. However, behavioral interactions between males and females that generate assortative mating will often also generate sexual selection.
Who created the theory of assortative mating?
Introduction by John Brockman In this Edge feature, he presents his new Assortative Mating Theory which connects his two fields of research: the characteristics of autism in terms of understanding whats going on in the brain and the causes of the condition; and understanding the differences between males and females.
What Animals use intrasexual selection?
Intrasexual selection deals with members of the same sex in a given species. An example of this can be seen in elephant seals, polar bears, or any other animal that fights a same sex individual for mating, food, or territorial purposes.
Why are girls more selective than guys?
Females tend to be the choosier sex when it comes to selecting a mate, part- ly because males can produce millions of sperm, whereas females eggs are few and far between. Thus, females may be more selective because they have more invested in each gamete and in the re- sulting offspring.
What causes natural selection?
The mechanism that Darwin proposed for evolution is natural selection. Because resources are limited in nature, organisms with heritable traits that favor survival and reproduction will tend to leave more offspring than their peers, causing the traits to increase in frequency over generations.
What is the goal of natural selection?
The goal of natural selection is to cause the extinction of genomes that are not well adapted to their present environment.