Sperm Competition and Its Evolutionary Consequences in the Insects

Sperm Competition and Its Evolutionary Consequences in the Insects
Author: Leigh W. Simmons
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 453
Release: 2019-12-31
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0691207038

One hundred years after Darwin considered how sexual selection shapes the behavioral and morphological characteristics of males for acquiring mates, Parker realized that sexual selection continues after mating through sperm competition. Because females often mate with multiple males before producing offspring, selection favors adaptations that allow males to preempt sperm from previous males and to prevent their own sperm from preemption by future males. Since the 1970s, this area of research has seen exponential growth, and biologists now recognize sperm competition as an evolutionary force that drives such adaptations as mate guarding, genital morphology, and ejaculate chemistry across all animal taxa. The insects have been critical to this research, and they still offer the greatest potential to reveal fully the evolutionary consequences of sperm competition. This book analyzes and extends thirty years of theoretical and empirical work on insect sperm competition. It considers both male and female interests in sperm utilization and the sexual conflict that can arise when these differ. It covers the mechanics of sperm transfer and utilization, morphology, physiology, and behavior. Sperm competition is shown to have dramatic effects on adaptation in the context of reproduction as well as far-reaching ramifications on life-history evolution and speciation. Written by a top researcher in the field, this comprehensive, up-to-date review of the evolutionary causes and consequences of sperm competition in the insects will prove an invaluable reference for students and established researchers in behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology.

Sperm Competition in Humans

Sperm Competition in Humans
Author: Nicholas Pound
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2006
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 9780387280363

This volume presents the intricate ways in which sperm compete to fertilize eggs and how this has prompted reinterpretations of breeding behavior from a biological perspective. Sperm Competition in Humans: Classic and Contemporary Readings provides a theoretical framework for the study of sperm competition and also discusses the roles of females and the relationships between paternal care in sperm competition. The chapters focus on everything from evolutionary biology to taxonomic development.

Promiscuity

Promiscuity
Author: Tim Birkhead
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2000
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780674006669

Birkhead reveals a world in which males and females vie with each other as they strive to maximize their reproductive success. Color illustrations.

Sperm Competition and the Evolution of Animal Mating systems

Sperm Competition and the Evolution of Animal Mating systems
Author: Robert L. Smith
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 710
Release: 2012-12-02
Genre: Science
ISBN: 032314313X

Sperm Competition and the Evolution of Animal Mating Systems describes the role of sperm competition in selection on a range of attributes from gamete morphology to species mating systems. This book is organized into 19 chapters and begins with the conceptualization of sperm competition as a subset of sexual selection and its implications for the insects. The following chapter describes the relationship between multiple mating and female fitness, with an emphasis on determining the conditions under which selection on females is likely to counteract selection on males for avoiding sperm competition. Other chapters consider the female perspective on sperm competition; the evolutionary causation at the level of the individual male gamete; and the correlation of high paternal investment and sperm precedence in the insects. The remaining chapters are arranged phylogenetically and explore the sperm competition in diverse animal taxa, such as the Drosophila, Lepidoptera, spiders, amphibians, and reptiles. These chapters also cover the evolution of direct versus indirect sperm transfer among the arachnids or the problem for kinship theory presented by multiple mating and sperm competition in the Hymenoptera. This book further discusses the remarkable potential for sperm competition among certain temperate bat species whose females store sperm through winter hibernation and the mixed strategies and male-caused female genital trauma as possible sperm competition adaptations in poeciliid fishes. The concluding chapter examines the predictions concerning testes size and mating systems in the primates and the possible role of sperm competition in human selection. This book is of great value to reproductive biologists and researchers.

Sperm Competition and Sexual Selection

Sperm Competition and Sexual Selection
Author: Tim R. Birkhead
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 806
Release: 1998-08-25
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9780121005436

Sperm Competition and Sexual Selection presents the intricate ways in which sperm compete to fertilize eggs and how this has prompted reinterpretations of breeding behavior. This book provides a theoretical framework for the study of sperm competition, which is a central part of sexual selection. It also discusses the roles of females and the relationships between paternal care in sperm competition. The chapters focusing on taxonomic development are diverse and cover all the major animal groups, both vertebrate and invertebrate, and plants. The final chapter provides an overview discussing the relationship between sperm competition and sexual selection in terms of both function and mechanism and how these translate into species fitness. This book will be of prime interest to behaviorists, ecologists and evolutionary biologists, suggesting new avenues of research and new ways of approaching old problems.

The Evolution of Primary Sexual Characters in Animals

The Evolution of Primary Sexual Characters in Animals
Author: Janet Leonard
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 550
Release: 2010-07-16
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0199717036

Primary sexual traits, those structures and processes directly involved in reproduction, are some of the most diverse, specialized, and bizarre in the animal kingdom. Moreover, reproductive traits are often species-specific, suggesting that they evolved very rapidly. This diversity, long the province of taxonomists, has recently attracted broader interest from evolutionary biologists, especially those interested in sexual selection and the evolution of reproductive strategies. Primary sexual characters were long assumed to be the product of natural selection, exclusively. A recent alternative suggests that sexual selection explains much of the diversity of "primary" sexual characters. A third approach to the evolution of reproductive interactions after copulation or insemination has been to consider the process one of sexual conflict. That is, the reproductive processes of a species may reflect, as does the mating system, evolution acting on males and on females, but in different directions. In this volume, authors explore a wide variety of primary sexual characters and selective pressures that have shaped them, from natural selection for offspring survival to species-isolating mechanisms, sperm competition, cryptic female choice and sexual arms races. Exploring diverse reproductive adaptations from a theoretical and practical perspective, The Evolution of Primary Sexual Characters will provide an unparalleled overview of sexual diversity in many taxa and an introduction to the issues in sexual selection that are changing our view of sexual processes.

Reproductive Biology and Phylogeny of Birds, Part A:

Reproductive Biology and Phylogeny of Birds, Part A:
Author: Barrie G M Jamieson
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 632
Release: 2007
Genre: Nature
ISBN:

Aspects of reproduction covered in this volume include classification and phylogeny as revealed by molecular biology; anatomy of the male reproductive tract and organs; development and anatomy of the female reproductive tract; and more.

Mammalian Sexuality

Mammalian Sexuality
Author: Alan F. Dixson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2021-06-03
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1108426182

The first detailed account of post-copulatory sexual selection and the evolution of reproduction in mammals.

Sexual Selection

Sexual Selection
Author: Malte Andersson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 621
Release: 2019-12-31
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0691207275

Bright colors, enlarged fins, feather plumes, song, horns, antlers, and tusks are often highly sex dimorphic. Why have males in many animals evolved more conspicuous ornaments, signals, and weapons than females? How can such traits evolve although they may reduce male survival? Such questions prompted Darwin's perhaps most scientifically controversial idea--the theory of sexual selection. It still challenges researchers today as they try to understand how competition for mates can favor the variety of sex-dimorphic traits. Reviewing theoretical and empirical work in this very active field, Malte Andersson, a leading contributor himself, provides a major up-to-date synthesis of sexual selection. The author describes the theory and its recent development; examines models, methods, and empirical tests; and identifies many unsolved problems. Among the topics discussed are the selection and evolution of mating preferences; relations between sexual selection and speciation; constraints on sexual selection; and sex differences in signals, body size, and weapons. The rapidly growing study of sexual selection in plants is also reviewed. This volume will interest students, teachers, and researchers in behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology.