[evo.theory] Evo Theory. Reading this Week: Mate choice.

[Brett Calcott]

We meet in Seminar room F, at 1pm on Friday (24th Sep).

Hot off the press, this week we are reading:

Choosing mates: good genes versus genes that are a good fit
Herman L. Mays Jr and Geoffrey E. Hill
TRENDS in Ecology and Evolution Vol.19 No.10 October 2004

Abstract:

Female choice for male ornamental traits is widely
accepted as a mechanism by which females maximize
their reproductive success and/or offspring quality.
However, there is an increasing empirical literature
that shows a fitness benefit of genetic diversity and a
tendency for females to use genetic dissimilarity as a
criterion for mate choice. This genetic compatibility
hypothesis for female mate choice presents a paradox.
How can females use both an absolute criterion, such as
male ornamentation, and a relative criterion, such as
genetic dissimilarity, to choose their mates? Here, we
present potential solutions for this dilemma and the
empirical evidence supporting them. The interplay
between these two contrasting forms of female mate
choice presents an exciting empirical and theoretical
challenge for evolutionary ecologists.



See you there,
Brett

--
Brett Calcott
Philosophy Program, RSSS, ANU
Canberra, ACT 0200, AUSTRALIA