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| Sexual Conflict (Monographs in Behavior and Ecology) | 
 enlarge | Authors: Goran Arnqvist, Locke Rowe
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $46.95
Buy New: $27.00
You Save: $19.95 (42%)
New (22) Used (10) from $27.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 510505
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 360
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1
ISBN: 0691122180
Dewey Decimal Number: 591.562
EAN: 9780691122182
ASIN: 0691122180
Publication Date: July 5, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The past decade has seen a profound change in the scientific understanding of reproduction. The traditional view of reproduction as a joint venture undertaken by two individuals, aimed at replicating their common genome, is being challenged by a growing body of evidence showing that the evolutionary interests of interacting males and females diverge. This book demonstrates that, despite a shared genome, conflicts between interacting males and females are ubiquitous, and that selection in the two sexes is continuously pulling this genome in opposite directions. These conflicts drive the evolution of a great variety of those traits that distinguish the sexes and also contribute to the diversification of lineages. Goeran Arnqvist and Locke Rowe present an array of evidence for sexual conflict throughout nature, and they set these conflicts into the well-established theoretical framework of sexual selection. The recognition of conflict between the sexes is transforming our theories for the evolution of mating systems and the sexes themselves. Written by two top researchers in the field, Sexual Conflict is the first book to describe this transformation. It is a must read for all scholars and students interested in the evolutionary biology of reproduction.
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| Customer Reviews:
Sexual conflict coming to light June 15, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is a very interesting look at sexual conflict across various species. In true lifelong monogamous species the reproductive interests of the two sexes converge, reproduction is a joint cooperative venture, and the two sexes also are normally very much alike in body and behaviour. But this is very rare in nature. Most species are not monogamous and, because of the different potential reproductive output of the two sexes and different degrees of investment in offspring, conflicts between the sexes are ubiqitous.
Examples are given of the occurence of injury or death to females during male-male competition for mating such as dungflies, elephant seals, otters and toads. In mallards, 7-10% of female mortality is due to male sexual harassment. These deaths are, of course, incidental and not intentional as a dead female is of no reproductive use to the male. Another example is that of the garter snake where the waiting males all converge on a female as she emerges from hibernation. The pressure of the males is such that she cannot obtain oxygen and her stress response involves cloacal gaping which thereby permits male intromission.
Male infanticide has now been observed in many mammalian species where a male will kill a female's dependent offspring so that she will become fertile again and he will be able to father her next offspring. This has also been observed in a well-studied spider species. And most people are aware of the female spiders cannibalizing the male. The funnel-web spider male uses a toxin spray to knock the female out so he can mate and the scorpian male stings the female to overcome her aggression.
Whilst males have evolved persistence traits, females are more likely to exhibit resistance traits because they have more to lose and less to gain from mating - it wastes energy or it interferes with their feeding or it increases her predation risk or the male is low quality or she has enough sperm already. And at least in the case of some fruitflies, the chemical cocktail that comes with the sperm and acts for its benefit can harm the female and accelerate senescence. The sperm of some insects can cause an extended refractory period in the females or make her unnattractive to further males. Sometimes though, the male is providing a large spermatophore, such as a butterfliy's which can be 10-25% of his bodyweight or 14-20% for a bush cricket, so the male is likely to be choosy about the quality of the female.
These are just a few examples of conflict between the reproductive interests of males and females. And there is conflict too in hermaphrodite species. As the authors say: "....sexual conflict is not about males or females per se but rather is an inevitable consequence when two unrelated individuals make a joint investment in reproduction. Since males of most species have a higher potential reproductive rate, males are often selected to exploit female investment and females are selected to avoid being exploited." Also: "Some forms of sexual selection also promote extinction by a sexual selection 'load'. All models of sexual selection predict that males should become more or less maladapted as they accumulate traits that are costly in terms of natural selection. Comparative studies have found male survival rates in relation to female are lower in sexually dimorphic species than in monomorphic species."
The authors concude by saying that we need more information on sexual selection in females. Indeed, the more obvious differences between males in reproductive success and the more obvious traits that result in males from male-male competition has always grabbed the limelight. But females too vary in their reproductive fitness so female-female competition and male mate choice certainly need more attention. This book, though, is a very important collection of research information on the sexual 'arms race' of adaptation and counter-adaptation, on what sexual asymmetry means for sexual behavior, and on what the implications are for sexual selection, natural selection and evolution.
excellent book! September 30, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
the book is very well written and summarizes the important facts and ideas within the topic of sexual conflict.
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