Chapter 12 - Mating Behaviour Flashcards
Primary Sexual Characteristics
The genitalia and organs of reproduction
Secondary Sexual Characteristics
Morphological differences between the sexes that are not directly involved in reproduction
Sexual Selection
Form of natural selection that acts on heritable traits that affect reproduction
Mate Competition
situation in which members of the same sex compete for
access to the other sex for reproduction (direct aggressive interactions, contests over breeding territories)
Also called intrasexual selection
Mate Choice
Selection by one sex for members of the other sex for reproduction.
Also known as intersexual selection.
Anisogamy
The existence of differently
sized gametes (small and large) in the
different sexes.
Isogamy
The production of gametes of
the same size by all individuals.
Bateman’s Hypothesis
the hypothesis that female reproductive success is most
strongly limited by the number and success of eggs that she can produce, while male reproductive success is
limited by the number of mates he has.
-foundation of sexual selection theory
Parental Investment Theory
The hypothesis that the sex that pays the higher cost of parental investment should be choosier when it comes
to mates
- Sex w/ higher cost of PIT = choosier when it comes to mates
- Other sex = more intense sexual selection
Operational Sex Ratio
The ratio of the number of sexually receptive males to sexually receptive females in a population
-Large skew in ration in non-caring sex w/ little / no waiting time = greater intensity of sexual selection on that sex
Weapons
Exaggerated morphological traits used in competition with
individuals of the same sex (vocalizations, courtship trials)
Ornaments
Exaggerated morphological traits used to attract mates
Lek
A location where males aggregate and display to females.
Sex Role- Reversed Species
A species in which females compete for males that
invest heavily in parental care.
Sensory Bias Hypothesis
The hypothesis that female mating preferences are a byproduct of preexisting biases in a female’s sensory system.
Direct Maternal Benefits
Material resources obtained by a female from mating with a particular male.
Indirect Maternal Benefits
Genetic benefits females can obtain for their offspring by mating with males that have high genetic quality.
Nuptial Gift
A physical resource such as a food item that an individual provides to a potential mate to enhance mating success.
Runaway Process
An evolutionary process in which a male trait co-evolves with a female preference for it and becomes increasingly exaggerated
Handicap Principle
The hypothesis that well-developed secondary sexual characteristics are costly because they handicap survival.
Good Genes
The alleles of a high quality individual.
Hamilton-Zuk Hypothesis
The hypothesis that parasites and pathogens
play an important role in sexual selection when secondary sexual traits are costly and condition dependent.
Sperm competition
A situation that occurs when the sperm of different males compete to fertilize eggs
Mate guarding
A behavior in which a male remains close to his mate to
prevent her from mating with rivals.
Extra-Pair Young
Offspring of a pair bonded female produced outside the
pair bond by a third-party male
Cryptic Female Choice
A situation that occurs when a female influences the
fertilization success of sperm from one male over that from others.
Alternate Reproductive Tactics
The existence of multiple behavioral mating phenotypes in a population.
Conditional Strategy
A strategy that an individual chooses based on its
condition.
Mate choice copying
A situation in which one individual observes and copies the mating decisions of another individual.
Alternative Mating Tactics
Multiple behavioural mating phenotypes in a population
Satellite Male
Alternative, parasitic mating tactic in which a male remains near a bourgeois male to intercept females that are attracted to the bourgeois male
Sneaker Male
Alternative, parasitic mating tactic in which a male attempts to avoid detection so that he can quickly enter a bourgeois territory to fertilize eggs being deposited in a nest
Conditional Strategy
The flexibility with which one chooses a particular strategy based on an individual’s condition
ESS (Evolutionary Stable Strategy)
A strategy that, if adopted by individuals in a population, cannot be trumped by another strategy because it yields the highest fitness
