Meta-analytic evidence that sexual selection improves population fitness

Cally, Justin; Stuart‐Fox, Devi; Holman, Luke

doi:10.1038/s41467-019-10074-7

“…Considering that condition (i.e. the total resources available to fitness‐related traits) is likely to be influenced by the load of deleterious mutations (Rowe & Houle ; Yun et al ), our results indirectly support the hypothesis that sexual selection can improve populations fitness under environmental stress by reducing mutation load (Cally et al ; Dugand et al ). Environmental perturbations, other than those related to food availability or diet, for example, based on temperature and climatic anomalies, may have different effects on the strength and direction of sexual selection (Berger et al ; De Lisle et al ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 72%

Dietary stress increases the total opportunity for sexual selection and modifies selection on condition‐dependent traits

Cattelan

¹

,

Evans

²

,

García‐González

³

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although it is often expected that adverse environmental conditions depress the expression of condition-dependent sexually selected traits, the full consequences of environmental change for the action of sexual selection, in terms of the opportunity for total sexual selection and patterns of phenotypic selection, are unknown. Here we show that dietary stress in guppies, Poecilia reticulata, reduces the expression of several sexually selected traits and increases the opportunity for total sexual selection (standardized variance in reproductive success) in males. Furthermore, our results show that dietary stress modulates the relative importance of precopulatory (mating success) and postcopulatory (relative fertilization success) sexual selection, and that the form of multivariate sexual selection (linear vs. nonlinear) depends on dietary regime. Overall, our results are consistent with a pattern of heightened directional selection on condition-dependent sexually selected traits under environmental stress, and underscore the importance of sexual selection in shaping adaptation in a changing world. LETTEREnvironmental-dependent sexual selection 449

show abstract

“…This conjecture further echoes the general sexual selection literature, which has shown that sexual selection in males often does not lead to a genetically correlated increase in female fitness (Whitlock and Agrawal ; but see: Cally et al. ), with many of these results deriving from the Drosophila (e.g., Holland ; Hollis and Houle ; Arbuthnott and Rundle , Allen et al. 2017) and seed beetle (Berger et al.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 59%

Sexual selection and the evolution of male and female cognition: A test using experimental evolution in seed beetles*

Baur

¹

,

Nsanzimana

²

,

Berger

³

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The mating system is thought to be important in shaping animal intelligence and sexual selection has been depicted as a driver of cognitive evolution, either directly by promoting superior cognitive ability during mate competition, or indirectly via genic capture of sexually selected traits. However, it remains unclear if intensified sexual selection leads to general improvements in cognitive abilities. Here, we evaluated this hypothesis by applying experimental evolution in seed beetles. Replicate lines, maintained for 35 generations of either enforced monogamy (eliminating sexual selection) or polygamy, were challenged to locate and discriminate among mates (male assays) or host seeds (female assays) in a spatial chemosensory learning task. All lines displayed learning between trials. Moreover, polygamous males outperformed monogamous males, providing evidence that sexual selection can lead to the evolution of improved male cognition. However, there were no differences between regimes in rates of male learning, and polygamous females showed no improvement in host search and even signs of reduced learning. Hence, sexual selection increased performance in cognitively demanding mate search, but it did not lead to general increases in cognitive abilities. We discuss the possibility that sexually antagonistic selection is an important factor maintaining abundant genetic variation in cognitive traits.

show abstract

“…The similar results in these two model systems may thus imply that the lack of effect of sexual selection on female cognition may also hold for evolution from mutational input, implying pronounced genetic modularity of cognitive traits affecting mating success, and limited possibility for sexual selection on males to improve general cognitive abilities, at least in species with a similar mating system. This conjecture further echoes the general sexual selection literature, which has shown that sexual selection in males often does not lead to a genetically correlated increase in female fitness (Whitlock and Agrawal 2009; but see: Cally et al 2019), with many of these results deriving from the Drosophila (e.g., Holland 2002;Hollis and Houle 2011;Arbuthnott andRundle 2012, Allen et al 2017) and seed beetle (Berger et al 2016a;Martinossi-Allibert et al 2018) study system.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Sexual selection and the evolution of male and female cognition: a test using experimental evolution in seed beetles

Baur

¹

,

d’Amour

²

,

Berger

³

2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The mating system is thought to be important in shaping animal intelligence and sexual selection has been depicted as a driver of cognitive evolution, either directly by promoting superior cognitive ability during mate competition, or indirectly via genic capture of sexually selected traits. However, it remains unclear if intensified sexual selection leads to general improvements in cognitive abilities. Here, we evaluated this hypothesis by applying experimental evolution in seed beetles. Replicate lines, maintained for 35 generations of either enforced monogamy (eliminating sexual selection) or polygamy, were challenged to locate and discriminate among mates (male assays) or host seeds (female assays) in a spatial chemosensory learning task. All lines displayed learning between trials. Moreover, polygamous males outperformed monogamous males, providing evidence that sexual selection can lead to the evolution of improved male cognition. However, there were no differences between regimes in rates of male learning, and polygamous females showed no improvement in host search and even signs of reduced learning. Hence, sexual selection increased performance in cognitively demanding mate search, but it did not lead to general increases in cognitive abilities. We discuss the possibility that sexually antagonistic selection is an important factor maintaining abundant genetic variation in cognitive traits. K E Y W O R D S : Behavior, cognition, learning, mating mind hypothesis, sexual antagonism, sexual selection.Cognitive traits allow for behavioral plasticity that can fundamentally change evolutionary dynamics and the mode of, and limits to, adaptation (Baldwin 1896;Smith 1987;Sznajder et al. 2012;Snell-Rood 2013). Cognitive abilities also vary widely among animal taxa and there are many hypotheses aimed at explaining this interspecific variation. Most evolutionary explanations typically emphasize the importance of trade-offs and species ecology . One such hypothesis is the idea that sociosexual interactions and the mating system are particularly important in shaping differences in overall cognitive abilities among animals (

show abstract

Meta-analytic evidence that sexual selection improves population fitness

Cited by 111 publications

References 85 publications

Dietary stress increases the total opportunity for sexual selection and modifies selection on condition‐dependent traits

Dietary stress increases the total opportunity for sexual selection and modifies selection on condition‐dependent traits

Sexual selection and the evolution of male and female cognition: A test using experimental evolution in seed beetles*

Sexual selection and the evolution of male and female cognition: a test using experimental evolution in seed beetles

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About