Female extrapair mating behavior can evolve via indirect selection on males.

ABSTRACT: In many species that form socially monogamous pair bonds, a considerable proportion of the offspring is sired by extrapair males. This observation has remained a puzzle for evolutionary biologists: although mating outside the pair bond can obviously increase the offspring production of males, the benefits of such behavior to females are less clear, yet females are known to actively solicit extrapair copulations. For more than two decades adaptionist explanations have dominated the discussions, yet remain controversial, and genetic constraint arguments have been dismissed without much consideration. An intriguing but still untested hypothesis states that extrapair mating behavior by females may be affected by the same genetic variants (alleles) as extrapair mating behavior by males, such th

SUBMITTER: Forstmeier W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3127899 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature