Sex and the forest

Beauty and the beast?

 Beauty and the beast?
“A Love to Die for.”

/ Mating

Redback spider
 Beauty and the beast?
“A Love to Die for.”

Elephant seal
Redback spider
 Males & Females
• Unequal investment of resources
– Gamete size difference (anisogamy) & other
parental effort (parasitism)
• Potential rate of reproduction
• Competition of the scarce resource
• Reproductive Effort
– Parental effort (P.E.) vs Mating effort (M.E.)
• Sex ratio
– The sex ratio is usually 1:1 (by R.A. Fisher)
• Unequal investment of resources
& other parental care
• Potential rate of reproduction

Fruit fly
• Potential rate of reproduction

Polygamous 一夫多妻制
• Reproductive Effort
- Parental effort (P.E.) vs Mating effort (M.E.)
Operational sex ratio:
the ratio of males and
females who are ready to
mate in a population at a
given time.

• Male-biased OSR: there

are more sexually
competing males than
sexually competing
females.
 Parasitic wasp 寄生蜂
• Parasitize (by lying eggs) different host life
stages of insects such as egg, larva, pupa, adult.
• Males are relatively short-lived and males
emerge first from the eggs, therefore, usually
sib-mating will occur.
• The first wasp produces a
strong daughter bias. The
second wasp adjusts the
prorportion of sons to the
relative level of local mate
competition.
 Sexual Selection: Competitive Males &
Choosy Females
• Competition for mates
– Differential reproductive success
– Male reproductive behavior
• Intra-sexual selection (male-male competition)
– Fighting
– Indirect competition: territorial defense, social
dominance
– “sperm competition”: mate guarding, removal of a
rival’s sperm (penis with lateral horns and spines),
copulatory plugs, anti‐aphrodisiac (制性欲的) smells
• Inter-sexual selection
– Female’s choice
 Dung beetle

Elephant seal

Bighorn sheep
Giraffe
Hornlike structures have evolved
 Sexual Selection: Competitive Males &
Choosy Females
• Competition for mates
– Differential reproductive success
– Male reproductive behavior
• Intra-sexual selection (male-male competition)
– Fighting
– Indirect competition: territorial defense, social
dominance
– “sperm competition”: mate guarding, removal of a
rival’s sperm (penis with lateral horns and spines),
copulatory plugs, anti‐aphrodisiac (制性欲的) smells
• Inter-sexual selection
– Female’s choice
Dominance and mating success in savanna baboons
 Sexual Selection: Competitive Males &
Choosy Females
• Competition for mates
– Differential reproductive success
– Male reproductive behavior
• Intra-sexual selection (male-male competition)
– Fighting
– Indirect competition: territorial defense, social
dominance
– “sperm competition”: mate guarding, removal of a
rival’s sperm (penis with lateral horns and spines),
copulatory plugs, anti‐aphrodisiac (制性欲的) smells
• Inter-sexual selection
– Female’s choice
Mate guarding

Red demselfly

Blueband goby
Penis with lateral spine
https://www.wetlandpark.gov.hk/filemanager/files/public/wcms/Factsheet_8.pdf
 The function of copulatory plugs in Caenorhabditis
remanei: hints for female benefits
Frontiers in Zoology 2010, 7:28 doi:10.1186/1742‐9994‐7‐28

Roundworm

http://www.nature.com/nprot/journal/v2/n5/fig_
tab/nprot.2007.145_F2.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pm
c/articles/PMC1690675/
Good Territory
Bullfrog牛蛙

• Warmer water for egg survival

Leech水蛭

• Exhibit paternal care

 Reluctant Females
(a) Non-genetic benefits
– Good resources
• Good territories
• Courtship feeding and maternal nutrition
– Parental ability
(b) Genetic benefits
– Offspring fitness: good genes
• Increase the survival of offspring
• Superior in intra-sexual competition and
intersexual selection
– Elaborate Ornaments
A Nuptial Gift

Hanging fly
“A Love to Die for.”

Redback spider
Reluctant Females
(a) Non-genetic benefits
– Good resources
• Good territories
• Courtship feeding and
maternal nutrition
– Parental ability
(b) Genetic benefits
– Offspring fitness: good genes
• Increase the survival of
offspring
• Superior in intra-sexual
competition and intersexual
selection
– Elaborate Ornaments
"The sight of a feather in a peacock's tail, whenever I
gaze at it, makes me sick!" (Charles Darwin)
Sexual dimorphism
• Differences between individuals of
different sex of the same species, e.g.
color and size.
Deer - large antlers

Long tail feathers

Eclectus Parrot 折衷鸚鵡 Mandarin duck 鴛鴦

Betta fish - elaborate colors

鬥魚
Mandrill - colorful 狒狒 Lion - mane
 Elaborate Ornaments
• Females prefer elaborate traits
– Costly, survival decreasing traits
– Runaway selection hypothesis (by R.A. Fisher)
• Selection for attractiveness alone
• Genetically attractive sons (“sexy son”)
– The handicap hypothesis
• Handicaps are indicators of heritable viability
• Disease resistance
• Good genes
Male birds show off their beauty to attract
females ‐ David Attenborough ‐ BBC wildlife
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqsMTZQ-pmE
Long‐tailed widow birds
長尾寡婦鳥
Bowers
David Attenborough ‐ Animal behaviour
of the Australian bowerbird ‐ BBC wildlife
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPbWJPsBPdA
Runaway selection hypothesis:
“Sexy son”?
Do male ornaments signal good
genes and healthier bodies?

Heterophile antibodies are antibodies

induced by external antigens
(heterophile antigens).
Do male ornaments signal good
genes and healthier bodies?
Sex role reversal
Shorebird Seahorse

Long-tailed dance fly

 Reluctant Females
"Darwin, say what you like about man; but I wish you would leave my
emotions alone"

http://www.museumoftheearth.org/planyourvisit.php?page=tempexhibitions/CharlesDarwin/Darwindescent
Scarce Resources?

Labour Force Participation Rates (2016)

Marriage data (Hong Kong)
Choosy Female?
Population Pyramid 2016
Multiple Mates?
 What Women Want:
Sexy son? Good genes?
Non‐genetic benefits?
 Sexual Display

http://programme.tvb.com/news/tuesdayreport/episode/2010080
3/#page-1
Sexual Display
 Nightclubs function as human
sexual display grounds

Behaviour 146, 1331‐1348

http://www.columbia.edu/~jhb2147/articles/nightclubs_low.pdf
 What Men Want:
“sexual purity” & Beauty and
Reproductive Potential

Chastity belt
德國古代貞操帶
 What Men Want:
“sexual purity” & Beauty and
Reproductive Potential
http://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/factsheets/docs/population.pdf
 Readings and references
• *Paul R. Ehrlich, David S. Dobkin, and Darryl Wheye (1988). Sexual Selection. From
http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Sexual_Selection.html
• Marlene Zuk, Gerald Borgia "Sexual Selection" Encyclopedia of Evolution. Ed. Mark Pagel. Oxford
University Press 2002. Chinese University of Hong Kong.
http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195122008.001.0001/acref-9780195122008-e-
383?p=emailAuaAgon6wSQ8A&d=/10.1093/acref/9780195122008.001.0001/acref-9780195122008-e-383
• Alcock J. (2009). Chapter 10 The evolution of reproductive behavior. In Animal Behavior (9 th Ed.).
Massachusetts:Sinauer Associates pp.330-376. [UL QL751.A58 2009]
• Krebs & Davies (1993). Sexual conflict and sexual selection. In An introduction to Behavioural Ecology (3rd
Ed.). Boston: Blackwell Scientific Publications. pp. 175-207. [UL Reserve 2 hours: QL751.K815 1993]
• Alcock J. (2009). Chapter 14 The evolution of human behavior. In Animal Behavior (9th Ed.). Massachusetts:
Sinauer Associates pp.518-525. [UL QL751.A58 2009]
• Marlene Zuk, Diane L. Marshall, Elizabeth Cashdan "Mate Choice" Encyclopedia of Evolution. Ed. Mark
Pagel. Oxford University Press 2003. Chinese University of Hong Kong.
http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195122008.001.0001/acref-9780195122008-e-
254?p=emailAuU2KrxNUXkqg&d=/10.1093/acref/9780195122008.001.0001/acref-9780195122008-e-254
• http://faculty.vassar.edu/suter/1websites/bejohns/mateselection/
• http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/IIIE3Sexualselection.shtml
• Facial symmetry
– Public Library of Science (2008, May 8). Why Face Symmetry Is Sexy Across Cultures And Species. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 23,
2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507083952.htm
– http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/f/facial_symmetry.htm