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Evolutionary ecology

Novelty makes the heart grow fonder

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Research on guppies provides the most definitive evidence yet for the rare-male effect — a long-standing hypothesis to explain the perplexing maintenance of variation in traits that are subject to strong mate choice. See Letter p.108

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Figure 1: The rare-male effect in a natural population.

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Correspondence to Jeffrey S. McKinnon or Maria R. Servedio.

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McKinnon, J., Servedio, M. Novelty makes the heart grow fonder. Nature 503, 44–45 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12701

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