Sperm Competition in Humans: Mate Guarding Behavior Negatively Correlates with Ejaculate Quality

Leivers, Samantha; Rhodes, Gillian; Simmons, Leigh W.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0108099

Cited by 24 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Our finding contributes to a growing list of male competitive and/or attractive traits that associate negatively with ejaculate quality, including facial and vocal masculinity and mateguarding behaviour (Leivers et al, 2014;Simmons et al, 2011;Soler et al, 2014). One potential physiological mechanism for the relationship between strength and ejaculate quality is the effect of testosterone.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

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Perceived physical strength in men is attractive to women but may come at a cost to ejaculate quality

et al. 2018

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Studies of sexual selection acting on physical strength in humans have focused mostly on its role in premating male-male competition. Recent theoretical frameworks suggest that male strength could be subject to trade-offs with postmating sperm competitiveness. Here, we 2 examined whether male strength is linked to ejaculate quality. We also asked whether strength is attractive to women and affects male self-reported mating success. Perceived strength was negatively associated with ejaculate quality as predicted by the trade-off hypothesis. Perceived strength positively predicted attractiveness and both perceived strength and attractiveness shared similar variance in predicting self-reported mating success. Our findings indicate that despite the benefits to premating sexual selection, having greater strength may come at a cost to sperm competitiveness.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

“…In humans, recent studies suggest that ejaculate quality might be traded off against competitive and/or attractive traits, including facial and vocal masculinity and mate-guarding behaviour (Leivers, Rhodes, & Simmons, 2014;Simmons, Peters, & Rhodes, 2011;Soler et al, 2014). No studies, however, have examined whether this trade-off also applies to strength.…”

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confidence: 99%

Perceived physical strength in men is attractive to women but may come at a cost to ejaculate quality

et al. 2018

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“…Sperm design and function are two important determinants of male reproductive success 24 25 and must be under strong natural selection, 26 related to sperm competition. 27 28 In the case of the domestic dog, natural selection has been replaced by strong artificial selection, and this pressure could cause a considerable stress on sperm function and structure, highly related to genetic effects. 29 Natural sexual selection (relating to sperm competition and cryptic female choice) has influenced coevolution of oviduct length, testicular size, and sperm morphology in mammals.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dog sperm head morphometry: its diversity and evolution

et al. 2017

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Dogs have been under strong artificial selection as a consequence of their relationship with man. Differences between breeds are evident that could be reflected in seminal characteristics. The present study was to evaluate differences in sperm head morphometry between seven well-defined breeds of dog: the British Bulldog, Chihuahua, German Shepherd, Labrador Retriever, Spanish Mastiff, Staffordshire Terrier, and Valencian Rat Hunting dog. Semen samples were obtained by masturbation and smears stained with Diff-Quik. Morphometric analysis (CASA-Morph) produced four size and four shape parameters. Length, Ellipticity, and Elongation showed higher differences between breeds. MANOVA revealed differences among all breeds. Considering the whole dataset, principal component analysis (PCA) showed that PC1 was related to head shape and PC2 to size. Procluster analysis showed the British Bulldog to be the most isolated breed, followed by the German Shepherd. The PCA breed by breed showed the Chihuahua, Labrador Retriever, Spanish Mastiff, and Staffordshire Terrier to have PC1 related to shape and PC2 to size, whereas the British Bulldog, Valencia Rat Hunting dog, and German Shepherd had PC1 related to size and PC2 to shape. The dendrogram for cluster groupings and the distance between them showed the British Bulldog to be separated from the rest of the breeds. Future work on dog semen must take into account the large differences in the breeds’ sperm characteristics. The results provide a base for future work on phylogenetic and evolutionary studies of dogs, based on their seminal characteristics.

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“…Our study adds further evidence that of these, direct intrasexual competition may be more influential. Still, future research could investigate to what extent scrambles, sexual coercion and sperm competition are related to men's sexually dimorphic traits and affect mating and reproductive success (Barbaro & Shackelford, 2016;Goetz & Shackelford, 2006;Leivers, Rhodes, & Simmons, 2014). Our findings of men's formidable traits affecting success in male-male competition, which subsequently predicted mating success, point towards male intrasexual competition remaining still playing a role in this contemporary industrialized Western population.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Preprint "The relative importance of intra- and intersexual selection on human male sexually dimorphic traits"

Hunt¹,

Puts²,

Ostner³

et al. 2017

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Recent evidence suggests that in sexual selection on human males, intrasexual competition plays a larger role than female choice. In a sample of men (N = 164), we sought to provide further evidence on the effects of men’s physical dominance and sexual attractiveness on mating success and hence in sexual selection. Objective measures and subjective ratings of male sexually dimorphic traits purportedly under sexual selection (height, vocal and facial masculinity, upper body size from3D scans, physical strength, and baseline testosterone) and observer perceptions of physical dominance and sexual attractiveness based on self-presentation video recordings were assessed and associated with mating success (sociosexual behaviour and number of potential conceptions) in a partly longitudinal design. Results from structural equation models and selection analyses revealed that physical dominance, but not sexual attractiveness, predicted mating success. Physical dominance mediated associations of upper body size, physical strength, as well as vocal and facial physical dominance and attractiveness with mating success. These findings thus suggest a greater importance of intrasexual competition than female choice in human male sexual selection.

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Sperm Competition in Humans: Mate Guarding Behavior Negatively Correlates with Ejaculate Quality

Cited by 24 publications

References 73 publications

Perceived physical strength in men is attractive to women but may come at a cost to ejaculate quality

Perceived physical strength in men is attractive to women but may come at a cost to ejaculate quality

Dog sperm head morphometry: its diversity and evolution

Preprint "The relative importance of intra- and intersexual selection on human male sexually dimorphic traits"

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