Sexual ornaments but not weapons trade off against testes size in primates.

ABSTRACT: Males must partition their limited reproductive investments between traits that promote access to females (sexual ornaments and weapons) and traits that enhance fertilization success, such as testes and ejaculates. Recent studies show that if the most weaponized males can monopolize access to females through contest competition, thereby reducing the risk of sperm competition, they tend to invest less in sperm production. However, how males invest in sexual ornaments relative to sperm production remains less clear. If male ornaments serve as badges of status, with high-ranking males attaining near-exclusive access to females, similar to monopolizing females through combat, their expression should also covary negatively with investment in post-mating traits. In a comparative study across pri

SUBMITTER: Lupold S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6501695 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature