Despite much research into mate selection, non-heterosexual populations are often only included for comparison purposes, while trans people and their partners are overlooked. This study attempts to address this using qualitative methodology to explore the mate selection of the partners of trans people. Six participants were recruited from online communities and interviewed via instant messaging...

In this work, mate choice is modeled by means of the abstract concept of mutual mating propensity. This only assumes that different types of couples can have different mating success. The model is adequate for any population where mating occurs among distinct types. There is no extra assumption about particular mating scheme or preference model. The concept of mutual mating propensity permits t...

Mate preference for well-adapted individuals may strengthen divergent selection and thereby facilitate adaptive divergence. We performed mate choice experiments in which we manipulated male red crossbill (Loxia curvirostra complex) feeding rates. Using association time as a proxy for preference, we found that females preferred faster foragers, which reinforces natural selection because poorly a...

In the pantheon of evolutionary forces, the optimizing Apollonian powers of natural selection are generally assumed to dominate the dark Dionysian dynamics of sexual selection. But this need not be the case, particularly with a class of selective mating mechanisms called ‘directional mate preferences’ (Kirkpatrick, 1987). In previous simulation research, we showed that nondirectional assortativ...

Aggression. Offensive action, particularly in regard to defending resources. Aggression in defending females and other resources should be favored by selection when there are fewer resources than competitors and when an individual can boost fitness by forcibly removing another individual. Intersexual Selection. Sexual selection due to interactions between the sexes. Mate choice by males or fema...

Natural selection and sexual selection are usually seen as either two different and separate processes or with sexual selection being a subset of natural selection but distinct from other processes such as kin selection. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of a connection between discriminatory altruistic behaviors consistent with kin selection and the sex-specific criteria that men a...