The coevolution of sexual imprinting by males and females.

ABSTRACT: Sexual imprinting is the learning of a mate preference by direct observation of the phenotype of another member of the population. Sexual imprinting can be paternal, maternal, or oblique if individuals learn to prefer the phenotypes of their fathers, mothers, or other members of the population, respectively. Which phenotypes are learned can affect trait evolution and speciation rates. "Good genes" models of polygynous systems predict that females should evolve to imprint on their fathers, because paternal imprinting helps females to choose mates that will produce offspring that are both viable and sexy. Sexual imprinting by males has been observed in nature, but a theory for the evolution of sexual imprinting by males does not exist. We developed a good genes model to study the conditions

SUBMITTER: Gomez-Llano MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5513227 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature