The sensory bias model of sexual selection posits that female mating preferences are by-products of natural selection on sensory systems. Although sensory bias was proposed 20 years ago, its critical assumptions remain untested.
What is the sensory bias hypothesis?
The sensory bias hypothesis states that the preference for a trait evolves in a non-mating context and is then exploited by one sex in order to obtain more mating opportunities. The competitive sex evolves traits that exploit a pre-existing bias that the choosy sex already possesses.
Can sensory bias explain mate preferences?
Sensory Bias as an Explanation for the Evolution of Mate Preferences. Although sensory bias was proposed 20 years ago, its critical assumptions remain untested. This paradox arises because sensory bias has been used to explain two different phenomena. First, it has been used as a hypothesis about signal design, that is,...
What is an example of sensory bias in animals?
Other examples of the sensory-bias mechanism include traits in auklets, wolf spiders, and manakins. Further experimental work is required to reach a fuller understanding of the prevalence and mechanisms of sensory bias.
What does this display of a sensory preference indicate?
a display of a sensory preference that may relate to species signals. It is about the biasness an organism has while perceiving a stimulus. In this situation, more than one stimulus is present around.
What is an example of sensory bias?
the display of sensory preferences that may not relate to species-typical signals. Female tungara frogs prefer a low-pitched chuck note that males add to courtship calls, and females of a closely related species also prefer low-pitched chuck notes, even though males of their species do not produce these notes.
What is the sensory bias model?
The sensory bias model of sexual selection posits that female mating preferences are by-products of natural selection on sensory systems. Although sensory bias was proposed 20 years ago, its critical assumptions remain untested. This paradox arises because sensory bias has been used to explain two different phenomena.
What is sensory exploitation?
in animal behavior, the use of a sensory bias to gain increased reproductive success by changing some feature of ornamentation or calling behavior to be more attractive to mates.
What is Fisher's runaway hypothesis?
Fisherian runaway posits that the evolution of the peacock tail is made possible if peahens have a preference to mate with peacocks that possess a longer and more colourful tail.
What is Muller's ratchet and the Red Queen hypothesis?
Muller's Ratchet in Mitochondria Muller's ratchet is the process by which the genome of an asexual population accumulates deleterious mutations in an irreversible manner. It is contrasting to what happens in a sexual population that deleterious mutations are able to be purged by genetic recombination.
What is good gene hypothesis?
good genes hypothesis, in biology, an explanation which suggests that the traits females choose when selecting a mate are honest indicators of the male's ability to pass on genes that will increase the survival or reproductive success of her offspring.
What is chase away selection?
Chase-away sexual selection posits that some male traits that attract females may actually be disadvantageous to the female, for example persuading her to mate with a frequency or at a time that is harmful to her (how?).
How does sensory drive promote speciation?
Sensory drive is most likely to play an important role in speciation for allopatric populations that come into secondary contact, because of the pivotal role of habitat differences in driving divergence in mating traits and the greater likelihood of habitat differences in allopatry.
What is runaway selection in biology?
Runaway selection is a mechanism whereby a secondary sexual trait expressed in one sex becomes genetically correlated with a preference for the trait in the other sex. The genetic coupling of the trait and the preference leads to self-reinforcing loops of coevolution between the trait and preference for the trait.
What is the Hamilton Zuk hypothesis?
Hamilton and Zuk's hypothesis suggests that male showiness allows females to assess male's ability to resist parasites. In this hypothesis the full expression of secondary sexual traits and parasite load are respectively assumed to mainly depend on individ- ual vigour and genetic resistance.
Why is it called the Red Queen hypothesis?
The Red Queen Hypothesis The term is derived from Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, where the Red Queen informs Alice that “here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place.” Thus, with organisms, it may require multitudes of evolutionary adjustments just to keep from going extinct.
What is an example of runaway selection?
One of the most dramatic examples is the African long-tailed widowbird (Euplectes progne); the male possesses an extraordinarily long tail. This feature can be explained by the females' preference for males with the longest tails.
What is the difference between Intrasexual and intersexual selection?
There are two types of sexual selection, intersexual and intrasexual. In intersexual selection, one sex, typically the males, will display a certain trait or behavior with the goal of attracting and mating with the opposite sex. Intrasexual selection, on the other hand, occurs between members of the same sex.
In what situation can cryptic female choice enhance the fitness of a female?
A female may exercise cryptic female choice by determining whether a male can mate for longer or for shorter periods of time, thus increasing or decreasing male insemination success. In hanging flies, females allows males that provide larger nuptial gifts to copulate longer, which increases male fitness.
What is runaway selection in biology?
Runaway selection is a mechanism whereby a secondary sexual trait expressed in one sex becomes genetically correlated with a preference for the trait in the other sex. The genetic coupling of the trait and the preference leads to self-reinforcing loops of coevolution between the trait and preference for the trait.
What is sensory bias?
The sensory bias model of sexual selection posits that female mating preferences are by‐products of natural selection on sensory systems. Although sensory bias was proposed 20 years ago, its critical assumptions remain untested. This paradox arises because sensory bias has been used to explain two different phenomena. First, it has been used as a hypothesis about signal design, that is, that males evolve traits that stimulate female sensory systems. Second, sensory bias has been used as a hypothesis for the evolution of female preference itself, that is, to explain why females exhibit particular preferences. We focus on this second facet. First, we clarify the unique features of sensory bias relative to the alternative models by considering each in the same quantitative genetic framework. The key assumptions of sensory bias are that natural selection is the predominant evolutionary mechanism that affects preference and that sexual selection on preferences is quantitatively negligible. We describe four studies that would test these assumptions and review what we can and cannot infer about sensory bias from existing studies. We suggest that the importance of sensory bias as an explanation for the evolution of female preferences remains to be determined.
What is the sensory bias model of sexual selection?
Abstract: The sensory bias model of sexual selection posits that female mating preferences are by‐products of natural selection on sensory systems. Although sensory bias was proposed 20 years ago, ...
Origins and history
Charles Darwin first expressed his ideas on sexual selection and mate choice in his book The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex in 1871.
Direct and indirect benefits
The act of being choosy was likely selected for as a way to assess whether or not a potential partner’s contribution (s) would be capable of producing and/or maintaining the viability of an offspring. Utilizing these behaviors usually results in two types of benefits to the individual who is being choosy:
Mechanisms
As of 2018 [update] five proposed mechanisms address the evolution of mate choice:
Sex role reversal in animals
In species where mating biases exist, females are typically the choosy sex because they provide a greater parental investment than males. However, there are some examples of sex role reversals where females must compete with each other for mating opportunities with males.
Speciation
For many years it has been suggested that sexual isolation caused by differences in mating behaviours is a precursor for reproductive isolation (lack of gene flow ), and consequently speciation, in nature.
Mate choice in humans
In humans, males and females differ in their strategies to acquire mates and focus on certain qualities. There are two main categories of strategies that both sexes utilize: short-term and long-term.
Parasite stress on mate choice
The parasite-stress theory, otherwise known as pathogen stress, states that parasites or diseases stress the development of organisms, leading to a change in the appearance of their sexually attractive traits.
Overview
Mechanisms
As of 2018 five proposed mechanisms address the evolution of mate choice:
• Direct phenotypic benefits
• Sensory bias
• Fisherian runaway
• Indicator traits
Origins and history
Charles Darwin first expressed his ideas on sexual selection and mate choice in his book The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex in 1871. He was perplexed by the elaborate ornamentation that males of some species have, because such features appeared to be detrimental to survival and to have negative consequences for reproductive success. Darwin proposed two expla…
Direct and indirect benefits
The act of being choosy was likely selected for as a way to assess whether or not a potential partner’s contribution(s) would be capable of producing and/or maintaining the viability of an offspring. Utilizing these behaviors usually results in two types of benefits to the individual who is being choosy:
• Direct benefits increase the fitness of the choosy sex through direct material advantages or reso…
Sex role reversal in animals
In species where mating biases exist, females are typically the choosy sex because they provide a greater parental investment than males. However, there are some examples of sex role reversals where females must compete with each other for mating opportunities with males. Species that exhibit parental care after the birth of their offspring have the potential to overcome the sex differences in parental investment (the amount of energy that each parent contributes per offspr…
Speciation
For many years it has been suggested that sexual isolation caused by differences in mating behaviours is a precursor for reproductive isolation (lack of gene flow), and consequently speciation, in nature. Mate choice behaviours are thought to be important forces that can result in speciation events because the strength of selection for attractive traits is often very strong. Speciation by this method occurs when a preference for some sexual trait shifts and produces …
Mate choice in humans
In humans, males and females differ in their strategies to acquire mates. Females exhibit more mate choice selectivity than males. According to Bateman's principle, human females display less variance in their Lifespan Reproductive Success, due to their high obligatory parental investment. Human female sexual selection is indicated by sexually dimorphism, especially in traits that serve little other evolutionary purpose, such as the presence in men of beards, overall lower voice pitc…
Mate choice for cognitive traits
In the late 19th century, Charles Darwin proposed that cognition, or "intelligence," was the product of two combined evolutionary forces: natural selection and sexual selection. Research on human mate choice showed that intelligence is sexually selected for, and is highly esteemed by both sexes. Some evolutionary psychologists have suggested that humans evolved large brains because the c…