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Meta-analytic evidence that sexual selection improves population fitness

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  • Justin G. Cally

    (The University of Melbourne)

  • Devi Stuart-Fox

    (The University of Melbourne)

  • Luke Holman

    (The University of Melbourne)

Abstract

Sexual selection has manifold ecological and evolutionary consequences, making its net effect on population fitness difficult to predict. A powerful empirical test is to experimentally manipulate sexual selection and then determine how population fitness evolves. Here, we synthesise 459 effect sizes from 65 experimental evolution studies using meta-analysis. We find that sexual selection on males tends to elevate the mean and reduce the variance for many fitness traits, especially in females and in populations evolving under stressful conditions. Sexual selection had weaker effects on direct measures of population fitness such as extinction rate and proportion of viable offspring, relative to traits that are less closely linked to population fitness. Overall, we conclude that the beneficial population-level consequences of sexual selection typically outweigh the harmful ones and that the effects of sexual selection can differ between sexes and environments. We discuss the implications of these results for conservation and evolutionary biology.

Suggested Citation

  • Justin G. Cally & Devi Stuart-Fox & Luke Holman, 2019. "Meta-analytic evidence that sexual selection improves population fitness," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-10074-7
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-10074-7
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    Cited by:

    1. Liam R Dougherty, 2023. "The effect of individual state on the strength of mate choice in females and males," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 34(2), pages 197-209.

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