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A measure of sexual selection for interspecific comparisons of species with diversified mating systems and different mortality schedules

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Researches on Population Ecology

Summary

Based on variances in components of lifetime reproductive success (LRS), a new index of the intensity of sexual selection was proposed mainly useful for interspecific comparisons. The index was defined as the male to female ratio of the standardized variance in mating efficiency during mating period. The index can to a large extent exclude the effect from natural selection which commonly act on both sexes in mating period and also from mortality in pre-reproductive period. This empirical measure has some defects in the strict sense (i.e., dichotomy of natural and sexual selection), however, it enables interspecific comparisons of the intensity of sexual selection among different taxonomic groups of animals with various mating systems and mortality schedules.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyoto University, 606-01, Kyoto, Japan

    Takayoshi Nishida

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  1. Takayoshi Nishida
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Nishida, T. A measure of sexual selection for interspecific comparisons of species with diversified mating systems and different mortality schedules. Res Popul Ecol 34, 373–382 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02514805

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