EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY

Name- Shreyasi Dongre

Student no.- 1200005520
Email Id- srdongre5520val@student.fatima.edu.ph

1) What is the difference between intersexual selection and intrasexual

selection? Give three examples each.

INTERSEXUAL SELECTION INTRASEXUAL SELECTION

➢ Intersexual selection refers
to sexual selection which
occurs between two sexes when
members of one sex choose the
members of the opposite sex.
➢ Intrasexual selection refers
to sexual selection within
the members of the same sex
to access mates.

➢ Members of the competitive ➢ Members of the competitive

sex show off for mates and
the opposite sex chooses the
best display. Some examples
include dancing, singing, or
showing bright colors.
• Examples
➢ Courtship displays in fish
➢ The mating calls of frogs
➢ Plumage on birds
sex fight amongst themselves
and the key event determines
reproductive success whether
it be fighting directly or
fighting over control of a
resource
• Examples
➢ Antlers in deer
➢ Male sea lions compete for
dominance over rookeries of
females
➢ Elephant seal females
aggregate in huge harems
numbering in the hundreds

2) Under what conditions will sexual selection produce different traits

in the two sexes?
➢ It's easy to understand sexual selection as a subset of natural
selection. Organisms that are better at attracting mates have higher
fitness when all other factors are equal. The sexual selection
process is influenced by two key elements. One is a preference that
one sex (typically females) has towards people of the opposing sex
who have certain features. The other is increased strength (mostly
among males), which leads to better mate attraction. Members of one
sex may be more appealing to members of the other sex if they share
a specific attribute. When Drosophila flies develop yellow bodies as
a result of natural selection, Females with normal yellowish grey
 pigmentation are brought together, as are others with normal
yellowish grey pigmentation. Normal guys are preferred above yellow
males by both body colours. When a trait, such as a stag's antlers,
improves sexual selection, it is called sexual selection. Ability to
compete with people of the same sex. The northern sea lion,
Eumetopias jubata, has a similar dimorphism, with males weighing
roughly 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds), or three times as much as
females. Big, battle-scarred males occupy their own rocky islets,
each with a harem of up to 20 females, and the males compete
furiously for females. Many mammals that live in packs, troops, or
herds, such as
wolves, horses, and buffaloes, have a hierarchy of dominance based
on age and power, with the top males conducting the majority of the
mating.

3) Why is one sex often choosy while the other is showy?

➢ Sexual dimorphism occurs when there is an imbalance between the two
sexes in how much in the amount of parental investment inputted by
the sexes. One sex is choosy because that sex is the one that has
higher parental investment and will be losing more from producing
offspring. The other sex (let's say males) is choosy because they
are limited to access to probable mates and are under strong
pressure of sexual selection to attract as many mates as possible.
Thus, males are selected to develop competitive traits that help
compete with other males (intrasexual selection). Females are not
limited to access to mates. Therefore, they are under strong
selection to "choose" the best mates that have more attractive
traits over other males.