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Sexually selected females in the monogamous Western Australian seahorse
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Sexually selected females in the monogamous Western Australian seahorse

C. Kvarnemo, G. Moore and A.G. Jones
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol.274(1609), pp.521-525
22/02/2007
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Abstract

Studies of sexual selection in monogamous species have hitherto focused on sexual selection among males. Here, we provide empirical documentation that sexual selection can also act strongly on females in a natural population with a monogamous mating system. In our field-based genetic study of the monogamous Western Australian seahorse, Hippocampus subelongatus, sexual selection differentials and gradients show that females are under stronger sexual selection than males: mated females are larger than unmated ones, whereas mated and unmated males do not differ in size. In addition, the opportunity for sexual selection (variance in mating success divided by its mean squared) for females is almost three times that for males. These results, which seem to be generated by a combination of a male preference for larger females and a female-biased adult sex ratio, indicate that substantial sexual selection on females is a potentially important but under-appreciated evolutionary phenomenon in monogamous species.

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Citation topics
3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
3.35 Zoology & Animal Ecology
3.35.434 Sexual Selection
Web Of Science research areas
Biology
Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
ESI research areas
Plant & Animal Science
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