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| Open AccessEvolution and expression patterns of the neo-sex chromosomes of the crested ibis
The evolutionary trajectory of avian sex chromosomes may be more intricate than previously understood. In this study, sequencing and analysis of the neo-sex chromosomes and genome of the Crested Ibis suggests a multidirectional evolution of sex chromosomes in core waterbirds.
- Lulu Xu
- , Yandong Ren
- & Gang Li
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Article
| Open AccessThe evolution of centriole degradation in mouse sperm
Centrioles have a conserved structure and function but have diversified in sperm. Here the authors provide insight into the molecular mechanisms and adaptive evolution underlying this diversification.
- Sushil Khanal
- , Ankit Jaiswal
- & Tomer Avidor-Reiss
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Article
| Open AccessSex differences in avian parental care patterns vary across the breeding cycle
Parental care in birds includes diverse behaviours but the variation in care from each parent across the breeding cycle and between species is unclear. Here, the authors study 1533 bird species, finding different patterns across breeding stages, and that species with strong sexual selection or paternity uncertainty tend to show female-biased care.
- Daiping Wang
- , Wenyuan Zhang
- & Xiang-Yi Li Richter
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Article
| Open AccessTransient polymorphisms in parental care strategies drive divergence of sex roles
Animals differ remarkably in how parental care is distributed between the male and female parent. Here, the authors use evolutionary simulations to reveal that sex differences in care readily emerge in a characteristic manner that is not captured by current sex role theory.
- Xiaoyan Long
- & Franz J. Weissing
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Article
| Open AccessThe evolution of same-sex sexual behaviour in mammals
There is still no consensus on the factors favouring the evolution of same-sex sexual behaviour in mammals. This study presents evidence that it is a widespread behaviour that has evolved repeatedly in mammals, and that may play an adaptive role in bonding and conflict resolution.
- José M. Gómez
- , A. Gónzalez-Megías
- & M. Verdú
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Article
| Open AccessGroup size and mating system predict sex differences in vocal fundamental frequency in anthropoid primates
Sexual dimorphism in the fundamental frequency of primate vocalizations is variable. Here, the authors examine 1914 vocalizations from 37 anthropoid species to find that fundamental frequency dimorphism increased with larger group size and polygyny, due to sexual selection.
- Toe Aung
- , Alexander K. Hill
- & David A. Puts
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Article
| Open AccessSexual selection for both diversity and repetition in birdsong
Birdsong is simultaneously repetitive and highly diverse. Sierro et al. resolve this apparent paradox through experiments in blue tits showing that consistent repetition is a fitness indicator, while song diversity reduces habituation during singing displays.
- Javier Sierro
- , Selvino R. de Kort
- & Ian R. Hartley
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Article
| Open AccessEvolutionary differentiation of androgen receptor is responsible for sexual characteristic development in a teleost fish
How has the genome duplication impacted the diversification of sexual characteristics in the teleost lineage? This study shows that androgen receptor ohnologs in medaka appear to have diverged in their roles for regulating morphological and behavioural sexual characteristics after loss from an ancestral role in spermatogenesis.
- Yukiko Ogino
- , Satoshi Ansai
- & Taisen Iguchi
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Article
| Open AccessDisentangling the causes of temporal variation in the opportunity for sexual selection
The opportunity for sexual selection is a key evolutionary parameter but we know little about its temporal dynamics. Using data from multiple animal species the authors show that this metric varies rapidly through time and that simulations should be used to avoid substantial misinterpretation.
- Rômulo Carleial
- , Tommaso Pizzari
- & Grant C. McDonald
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Article
| Open AccessSex-specificity of the C. elegans metabolome
Biological sex affects all aspects of animal physiology. Using the model C. elegans, the authors show that metabolomes are highly sex-specific and include a vast space of yet unidentified metabolites that may control development and lifespan.
- Russell N. Burkhardt
- , Alexander B. Artyukhin
- & Frank C. Schroeder
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Article
| Open AccessA signal-like role for floral humidity in a nocturnal pollination system
Flowers are well known for attracting pollinators with visual and olfactory displays. Here, the authors show that in a nocturnal, desert pollination system, flower choice by pollinators is also mediated by floral humidity.
- Ajinkya Dahake
- , Piyush Jain
- & Robert A. Raguso
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Perspective
| Open AccessThe history of sexual selection research provides insights as to why females are still understudied
While it is widely acknowledged that Darwin’s descriptions of females were gender-biased, gender bias in modern sexual selection research is less recognized. This Perspective highlights that sexual selection theory and research are still male-centered and suggest strategies for alleviating biases in this field and beyond.
- Malin Ah-King
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Article
| Open AccessFertilization mode differentially impacts the evolution of vertebrate sperm components
The location where fertilization takes place can be highly variable across species, and especially between internal and external fertilizers. Kahrl et al. find that fertilization environment plays a significant role in the evolution and diversification of sperm morphology across vertebrate species.
- Ariel F. Kahrl
- , Rhonda R. Snook
- & John L. Fitzpatrick
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Article
| Open AccessOrnaments are equally informative in male and female birds
Ornaments are often less elaborate in females than males. Regardless of such sex differences, this meta-analysis across mutually-ornamented birds supports that ornamental traits could equally act as adaptive signals in males and females.
- Sergio Nolazco
- , Kaspar Delhey
- & Anne Peters
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Article
| Open AccessCumulative cultural evolution and mechanisms for cultural selection in wild bird songs
Cumulative cultural evolution is ubiquitous in humans, but is rarely observed in non-human animals. Here, Williams et al. report elaboration of songs over several decades in Savannah sparrows, consistent with cumulative cultural evolution.
- Heather Williams
- , Andrew Scharf
- & Julie C. Blackwood
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Comment
| Open AccessAnisogamy explains why males benefit more from additional matings
Why do males typically compete more intensely for mating opportunities than do females and how does this relate to sex differences in gamete size? A new study provides a formal evolutionary link between gamete size dimorphism and ‘Bateman gradients’, which describe how much individuals of each sex benefit from additional matings.
- Jonathan M. Henshaw
- , Adam G. Jones
- & Lukas Schärer
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Article
| Open AccessBateman gradients from first principles
In 1948, Bateman asserted that sexual selection is driven by the sex difference in gamete numbers. Lehtonen presents mathematical models broadly validating this controversial claim, while pointing out selection can be reversed under some conditions.
- Jussi Lehtonen
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Article
| Open AccessSwitches, stability and reversals in the evolutionary history of sexual systems in fish
Fish have a diversity of sexual systems. Pla et al. analyse the transitions in these systems across fish, supporting that simultaneous hermaphroditism cannot evolve directly from separate sexes but requires sequential hermaphroditism as an intermediate step.
- Susanna Pla
- , Chiara Benvenuto
- & Francesc Piferrer
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Article
| Open AccessMachine learning reveals cryptic dialects that explain mate choice in a songbird
The authors show that captive populations of zebra finches, which have been kept in isolation for up to 100 generations, have diverged in song dialect. When individuals singing different dialects are mixed, mating is assortative for song dialect.
- Daiping Wang
- , Wolfgang Forstmeier
- & Bart Kempenaers
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Article
| Open AccessA large and diverse autosomal haplotype is associated with sex-linked colour polymorphism in the guppy
Extreme colour pattern variation in male Trinidadian guppies are influenced by natural selection and sexual selection. Here, the authors phenotype and genotype four guppy lineages finding that colour pattern is associated with a diverse haplotype on an autosome.
- Josephine R. Paris
- , James R. Whiting
- & Bonnie A. Fraser
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Article
| Open AccessNatural selection increases female fitness by reversing the exaggeration of a male sexually selected trait
Natural and sexual selection can be in opposition favouring different trait sizes, but disentangling these processes empirically is difficult. Here Okada et al. show that predation on males shifts the balance of selection in experimentally evolving beetle populations, disfavoring a sexually-selected male trait but increasing female fitness.
- Kensuke Okada
- , Masako Katsuki
- & David J. Hosken
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Article
| Open AccessThe role of maternal preconception vitamin D status in human offspring sex ratio
Higher vitamin D is associated with improved pregnancy and live birth rates, but its potential role in the human offspring sex ratio in unknown. Here, the authors show that the levels of vitamin D at preconception are positively associated with male live birth, particularly among women presenting inflammatory markers.
- Alexandra C. Purdue-Smithe
- , Keewan Kim
- & Sunni L. Mumford
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Article
| Open AccessEfficacy in deceptive vocal exaggeration of human body size
While size exaggeration is common in the animal kingdom, Pisanski & Reby show that human listeners can detect deceptive vocal signals of people trying to sound bigger or smaller, and recalibrate their estimates accordingly, especially men judging the heights of other men, with implications for the evolution of vocal communication.
- Katarzyna Pisanski
- & David Reby
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Article
| Open AccessResponses of intended and unintended receivers to a novel sexual signal suggest clandestine communication
Parasitoid flies eavesdrop on the mating songs of male Hawaiian crickets, creating conflict between sexual and natural selection. Here, the authors investigate the selection acting on a recently evolved male mating signal, a “purring” song, which appears to be undetected by parasitoids.
- Robin M. Tinghitella
- , E. Dale Broder
- & David M. Zonana
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Article
| Open AccessExtreme temperatures compromise male and female fertility in a large desert bird
Climate change may pose a challenge not only for survival of animals but also for their reproduction. Here, Schou et al. analyse how male and female ostrich fertility relates to fluctuating temperature across 20 years, finding reduced fertility away from the thermal optimum, but also individual variation in thermal tolerance.
- Mads F. Schou
- , Maud Bonato
- & Charlie K. Cornwallis
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Article
| Open AccessEvidences for a role of two Y-specific genes in sex determination in Populus deltoides
Dioecy has evolved independently from hermaphroditic ancestors in different plant lineages. Here, the authors assemble Populus deltoides male and female genomes, and show the putative roles of a femaleness gene and a maleness gene in sex determination, which suggests independent evolution in different poplar species.
- Liangjiao Xue
- , Huaitong Wu
- & Tongming Yin
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Article
| Open AccessPolyandry blocks gene drive in a wild house mouse population
This study resolves a long-standing mystery of why t haplotypes, an example of selfish genes, have persisted at unexpectedly low frequencies in wild mouse populations. It shows that multiple mating by females, which is more common at higher mouse population densities, decreases the frequency of driving t haplotypes.
- Andri Manser
- , Barbara König
- & Anna K. Lindholm
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Article
| Open AccessPhylogenomic analysis sheds light on the evolutionary pathways towards acoustic communication in Orthoptera
Song et al. inferred that stridulatory wings and tibial ears co-evolved in a sexual context among crickets, katydids, and their allies, while abdominal ears evolved first in a non-sexual context in grasshoppers, and were later co-opted for courtship. They found little evidence that the evolution of these organs increased lineage diversification.
- Hojun Song
- , Olivier Béthoux
- & Sabrina Simon
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Article
| Open AccessThe genetic basis of sex determination in grapes
Grapevine is one of a few ancestrally dioecious crops that are reverted to hermaphroditism during domestication. Here, the authors identify candidate genes related to male- and female-sterility in grapes and describe the genetic process that led to hermaphroditism during domestication.
- Mélanie Massonnet
- , Noé Cochetel
- & Dario Cantu
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Article
| Open AccessSexual signaling pattern correlates with habitat pattern in visually ornamented fishes
Sensory drive theory posits that selection on sexual signals should depend on the environmental background. Here, Hulse et al. analyze the spatial statistics of body patterning in 10 darter fish species and find a correlation with habitat spatial statistics only for males, consistent with sexual selection via sensory drive.
- Samuel V. Hulse
- , Julien P. Renoult
- & Tamra C. Mendelson
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Article
| Open AccessThe evolution of sexual signaling is linked to odorant receptor tuning in perfume-collecting orchid bees
Male orchid bees collect scents from the environment to attract females for mating. Here, Brand et al. combine population genomic, perfume chemistry, and functional analyses to show how divergence in odorant receptor genes may be driving reproductive divergence between two orchid bee species.
- Philipp Brand
- , Ismael A. Hinojosa-Díaz
- & Santiago R. Ramírez
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Article
| Open AccessEarly-exposure to new sex pheromone blends alters mate preference in female butterflies and in their offspring
Pheromones are an essential cue for species recognition and mate selection in many insects including the butterfly Bicyclus anynana. Here the authors show that females with a short social experience of a new male learn preferences for novel pheromone blends, a preference which also occurs in their daughters.
- Emilie Dion
- , Li Xian Pui
- & Antónia Monteiro
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Article
| Open AccessCoevolution of male and female mate choice can destabilize reproductive isolation
Models of mate choice have mainly focused on the implications of female mate choice for reproductive isolation. Here, Aubier et al. develop a population genetic model of coevolution between female and male mate choice, which can lead the population to oscillate between assortative and random mating.
- Thomas G. Aubier
- , Hanna Kokko
- & Mathieu Joron
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Article
| Open AccessSex-biased gene expression is repeatedly masculinized in asexual females
Evolution of optimal gene expression in females is expected to be constrained by sexually-antagonistic selection on males. Here, Parker and colleagues show that gene expression has in fact become masculinized in female stick insects across five independent transitions to asexual reproduction.
- Darren J. Parker
- , Jens Bast
- & Tanja Schwander
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Article
| Open AccessHow conflict shapes evolution in poeciliid fishes
The viviparity driven conflict hypothesis predicts the evolution of the placenta will suppress the evolution of traits associated with pre-copulatory mate choice and accelerate speciation rate. Furness et al. support the former and disprove the latter predictions with comparative analyses of the poecilid fishes.
- Andrew I. Furness
- , Bart J. A. Pollux
- & David N. Reznick
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Article
| Open AccessMeta-analytic evidence that sexual selection improves population fitness
Sexual selection has the potential to either increase or decrease absolute fitness. Here, Cally et al. perform a meta-analysis of 65 experimental evolution studies and find that sexual selection on males tends to increase fitness, especially in females evolving under stressful conditions.
- Justin G. Cally
- , Devi Stuart-Fox
- & Luke Holman
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Article
| Open AccessSexual selection predicts the rate and direction of colour divergence in a large avian radiation
What factors explain variation in the pace and trajectory of evolutionary divergence between lineages? Here, the authors show that a proxy measure for sexual selection intensity predicts both the rate and direction of plumage colour evolution in a diverse radiation of New World passerine birds.
- Christopher R. Cooney
- , Zoë K. Varley
- & Gavin H. Thomas
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Article
| Open AccessMolecular evidence supports a genic capture resolution of the lek paradox
Females are choosy about their mates, which should erode genetic diversity but in practice does not. Here, selection and genomic resequencing of Drosophila supports the hypothesis that this paradox can be explained by sexually selected traits reflecting genetic variation in condition.
- Robert J. Dugand
- , Joseph L. Tomkins
- & W. Jason Kennington
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Article
| Open AccessFemale genitalia can evolve more rapidly and divergently than male genitalia
Although male genital shape is known to evolve rapidly in response to sexual selection, relatively little is known about the evolution of female genital shape. Here, the authors show that across onthophagine dung beetles, female genital shape has diverged much more rapidly than male genital shape.
- Leigh W. Simmons
- & John L. Fitzpatrick
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Article
| Open AccessPolygyny is linked to accelerated birdsong evolution but not to larger song repertoires
Sexual selection is expected to be intensified in non-monogamous mating systems; in birds this might accelerate song evolution. Here, the authors show that across songbirds, polygyny and extra-pair paternity are associated with faster syllable repertoire size evolution and smaller repertoire size, respectively.
- Kate T. Snyder
- & Nicole Creanza
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Article
| Open AccessSex peptide receptor-regulated polyandry modulates the balance of pre- and post-copulatory sexual selection in Drosophila
Theory predicts that mating systems influence the relative strength of sexual selection before and after mating. Here, Morimoto and colleagues demonstrate that higher polyandry weakens precopulatory while strengthening post-copulatory sexual selection on males in Drosophila melanogaster.
- Juliano Morimoto
- , Grant C. McDonald
- & Stuart Wigby
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Article
| Open AccessSynchronization of speed, sound and iridescent color in a hummingbird aerial courtship dive
Although components of animal mating signals are often studied separately, many animals produce complex multimodal displays. Here, the authors show that the courtship display of male broad-tailed hummingbirds consists of synchronized motions, sounds, and colors that occur within just 300 milliseconds.
- Benedict G. Hogan
- & Mary Caswell Stoddard
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Article
| Open AccessDemographic causes of adult sex ratio variation and their consequences for parental cooperation
Biases in adult sex ratio (ASR) are common, yet their causes and consequences are not well understood. Here, the authors analyse data from >6000 individuals of five shorebird species, showing that sex differences in juvenile survival drive ASR variation and biased ASR is associated with uniparental care.
- Luke J. Eberhart-Phillips
- , Clemens Küpper
- & Oliver Krüger
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Article
| Open AccessStructural absorption by barbule microstructures of super black bird of paradise feathers
Physical structure is known to contribute to the appearance of bird plumage through structural color and specular reflection. Here, McCoy, Feo, and colleagues demonstrate how a third mechanism, structural absorption, leads to low reflectance and super black color in birds of paradise feathers.
- Dakota E. McCoy
- , Teresa Feo
- & Richard O. Prum
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Article
| Open AccessCarotenoid metabolism strengthens the link between feather coloration and individual quality
Studies of honest signaling have found an inconsistent relationship between carotenoid coloration and individual quality. Here, Weaver et al. compare dietary and biochemically converted carotenoid coloration using meta-analyses and show that converted carotenoids drive relationships with quality measures.
- Ryan J. Weaver
- , Eduardo S. A. Santos
- & Geoffrey E. Hill
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Article
| Open AccessMating system manipulation and the evolution of sex-biased gene expression in Drosophila
Sexual selection on males is thought to favour male-biased gene expression. Here, Veltsos et al. experimentally evolve Drosophila pseudoobscura under different mating systems and, contrary to expectation, most often find masculinization of the transcriptome under monogamy rather than under elevated polyandry.
- Paris Veltsos
- , Yongxiang Fang
- & Michael G. Ritchie
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Article
| Open AccessEnvironmental conditions limit attractiveness of a complex sexual signal in the túngara frog
Animal sexual signals should be conspicuous to mates but not to enemies. Here, the authors show that call site properties can set limits on the attractiveness of male frogs' advertisement call, but that males may balance sexual success over predation risk by digging deeper puddles.
- Wouter Halfwerk
- , Judith A. H. Smit
- & Michael J. Ryan
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Article
| Open AccessConvergent recombination suppression suggests role of sexual selection in guppy sex chromosome formation
It has been suggested that sex chromosomes arise as a result of sexual conflict, resulting in selection against recombination between chromosomes. Here, the authors resequence laboratory and wild guppy populations with differing levels of sexual antagonism, providing support for this long-held view.
- Alison E. Wright
- , Iulia Darolti
- & Judith E. Mank
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Article
| Open AccessMate choice in fruit flies is rational and adaptive
A characteristic of rational behaviour is that it is transitive, such that preferences are ranked in a strict linear order. Here, Arbuthnott and colleagues show that mate choice in the fruit fly,Drosophila melanogaster, is transitive at the population level and that preferred mates produce more offspring.
- Devin Arbuthnott
- , Tatyana Y. Fedina
- & Daniel E. L. Promislow