Directional female mate choice is expected to deplete additive genetic variation in male traits. This should preclude such trait-based choice from resulting in genetic benefits to offspring, and yet genetic benefits are the explanation for the choice. This evolutionary conundrum is known as the lek paradox. Newly proposed resolutions to this paradox aim to unravel mechanisms that contribute to ...

It has been argued that intraspecific mate-choice copying can be adaptive under certain conditions. Dugatkin's (1992, Am. Nat.139, 1384-1389) work with guppies, Poecilia reticulataremains the most influential experimental demonstration of this phenomenon. We replicated Dugatkin's work using several choice criteria to ensure that our results were not dependent upon any single method of judging m...

Sexual cannibalism may influence expression of elaborate male traits by either reinforcing or opposing sexual selection. Male Schizocosa ocreata (Hentz) wolf spiders (Lycosidae) have tufts of bristles on the first pair of legs that may function as a condition-indicating signal trait. We paired virgin and previously mated adult females with males under seminatural conditions (laboratory containe...

Female zebra finches may be influenced by the choices of other females when selecting mates, challenging the view that mate-choice copying should not occur in species with biparental care. Choosing a mate is not a simple business. A female needs a male in order to reproduce, but how does she know which one to pick? How can she find a good mate without wasting too much time and effort? One answe...

It is well known that female mate choice decisions depend on the direct costs of choosing (either because of search costs or male-imposed costs). Far less is known about how direct fitness costs affect male mate choice. We conducted an experiment to investigate male mate choice in a fish, the Pacific blue-eye (Pseudomugil signifer). Preferred females were larger, probably because larger females...

Models of sexual selection by mate choice have emphasized the evolution of sexually dimorphic costly signals, such as elaborate plumage or courtship display, in the sex exhibiting higher reproductive skew, usually males. Less well explored is the action of mutual mate choice in driving signal evolution in socially monogamous or near-monogamous populations. We present a simulation model of condi...

Genetic, life history, and environmental factors dictate patterns of variation in sexual traits within and across populations, and thus the action and outcome of sexual selection. This study explores patterns of inheritance, diet, age, and mate-choice copying on the expression of male sexual signals and associated female mate choice in a phenotypically diverse group of Schizocosa wolf spiders. ...

Female mate-choice based on genetic compatibility is an area of growing interest. The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes are likely candidates for such mate-choice since these highly polymorphic genes may both increase offspring viability and also provide direct cues for mate-choice. In great reed warblers, females actively choose a breeding partner out of a handful of males that they...