Multi-level sexual selection: individual and family-level selection for mating success in a historical human population.

ABSTRACT: Precopulatory sexual selection is the association between fitness and traits associated with mate acquisition. Although sexual selection is generally recognized to be a powerful evolutionary force, most investigations are limited to characters belonging to individuals. A broader multilevel perspective acknowledges that individual fitness can be affected by aspects of mating success that are characters of groups, such as families. Parental mating success in polygynous or polyandrous human societies may exemplify traits under group-level sexual selection. Using fitness measures that account for age-structure, I measure multilevel selection for mate number over 55 years in a human population with declining rates of polygyny. Sexual selection had three components: individual-level selection fo

SUBMITTER: Moorad JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3675801 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature