Search results for "female selection"

Fighting performance as a predictor of mating success in male black grouse

2010

As a consequence of certain conflicting evolutionary interests of males and females, the sexes have taken on different reproductive roles. In many species, where females invest more in the production of offspring, males compete for the opportunities to reproduce and females attempt to choose the highest quality males to sire their offspring. Males of different species signal their quality in a variety of ways, including physical cues such as color signals or exaggerated secondary sexual characters, behavioral signals and acquisition of a dominance status through aggression towards other males. In the lekking black grouse only a few males manage to copulate and active fighting is required fo…