Sexual selection from first principles
Main funder
Funder's project number: 340130
Funds granted by main funder (€)
- 447 650,00
Funding program
Project timetable
Project start date: 01/09/2021
Project end date: 31/08/2026
Summary
Sexual selection is a central part of evolutionary biology, and a topic that captures the attention of scientists and the public alike. It has been called 'Darwin's other big idea', and has only grown in recent decades. But sexual selection is also a field coloured by tension and contrasting views. A big point of contention in recent years is whether selection for sexual trait differences can be truly traced back to 'first principles'. In this context, first principles refers to the definition of the female and male sexes: a difference in gamete size, where the female sex by definition makes larger gametes, and vice versa. In his early work on sexual selection, Angus Bateman explicitly
claimed that such a link indeed exists, but provided no mathematical justification, and several recent publications have claimed that this line of thinking is flawed. A difficulty in these debates is that although there are many models on the evolution of gamete size, and
many models of sexual selection, there are very few models that connect gamete size to sexual selection in a way that makes no other a priori sex-specific assumptions (aside from gamete size itself). However, a recent model showed a partial mathematical link: a link
between gamete size and selection for sexually competitive traits. Yet many other questions were left open. For example, does a
difference in gamete size imply a difference in selection for mate choice (or gamete choice)? Does a difference in gamete size imply a difference in selection for parental investment? How does gamete size difference interact with modes of gestation (e.g. internal
fertilisation, external fertilisation)? This project will address these questions with models that explicitly link gamete size to sexual
selection using an unbroken chain of causal reasoning, and invoking no other a priori differences aside from gamete size. In doing so, I will also review the literature to elucidate the nature of assumptions that have been made in previous models. I will also review the use of evolutionary game theory in sexual selection, as part of a theme issue on the 50th anniversary of evolutionary game theory.
claimed that such a link indeed exists, but provided no mathematical justification, and several recent publications have claimed that this line of thinking is flawed. A difficulty in these debates is that although there are many models on the evolution of gamete size, and
many models of sexual selection, there are very few models that connect gamete size to sexual selection in a way that makes no other a priori sex-specific assumptions (aside from gamete size itself). However, a recent model showed a partial mathematical link: a link
between gamete size and selection for sexually competitive traits. Yet many other questions were left open. For example, does a
difference in gamete size imply a difference in selection for mate choice (or gamete choice)? Does a difference in gamete size imply a difference in selection for parental investment? How does gamete size difference interact with modes of gestation (e.g. internal
fertilisation, external fertilisation)? This project will address these questions with models that explicitly link gamete size to sexual
selection using an unbroken chain of causal reasoning, and invoking no other a priori differences aside from gamete size. In doing so, I will also review the literature to elucidate the nature of assumptions that have been made in previous models. I will also review the use of evolutionary game theory in sexual selection, as part of a theme issue on the 50th anniversary of evolutionary game theory.
Principal Investigator
Primary responsible unit
Related publications and other outputs
- Fitness as the organismal performance measure guiding adaptive evolution (2024) Fromhage, Lutz; et al.; A1; OA
- Discretising Keyfitz' entropy for studies of actuarial senescence and comparative demography (2023) de Vries, Charlotte; et al.; A1; OA
- Does symmetry preclude the evolution of senescence? : A comment on Pen and Flatt 2021 (2023) de Vries, Charlotte; et al.; B1; OA
- Evolutionary game theory of continuous traits from a causal perspective (2023) Lehtonen, Jussi; et al.; A1; OA
- Individual- and group-level sex ratios under local mate competition : consequences of infanticide and reproductive dominance (2023) Lehtonen, Jussi; et al.; A1; OA
- Kin selection in interactions between gametes : Gamete competition, gamete limitation, and sex allocation (2023) Myllymaa, Lauri; et al.; A1; OA
- Sex-specific assumptions and their importance in models of sexual selection (2023) de Vries, Charlotte; et al.; A2; OA
- A synthesis of deimatic behaviour (2022) Drinkwater, Eleanor; et al.; A2; OA
- Bateman gradients from first principles (2022) Lehtonen, Jussi; A1; OA
- The Demographic Costs of Sexually Antagonistic Selection in Partially Selfing Populations (2022) Olito, Colin; et al.; A1; OA
