Abstract
Author SummaryIn many species, females are frequently subject to harassing courtship from males attempting to mate with them. These persistent male behaviors can result in females incurring substantial direct fitness costs. We set out to examine how these costs may influence adaptive potential in a species that also exhibits male mate choice, i.e., a preference by males for females exhibiting certain traits. We found that harmful courtship behaviors were directed predominantly towards females of greater reproductive potential (and away from females of lesser potential), resulting in a reduction in the variation of lifetime reproductive successes among females in the population. This change in distribution of realized fitnesses represents a previously unappreciated consequence of sexual conflict–adaptive male mate preference can slow the rate of accumulation of beneficial mutations and speed the rate of accumulation of harmful mutations, thereby creating a “sexual conflict adaptive load” within a species.
Highlights
Most studies of mate choice have focused on mate preference by females, because this sex typically has higher levels of parental investment and lower variance in realized fitness [1,2,3,4]
We focus on species with ‘‘typical’’ sex roles that experience sexual conflict due to antagonistic male persistence that arises because the optimal outcomes of mating interactions often differ for males and females [13,14]
A counteracting effect could occur if male preference for high-fecundity females increases the variance in male fitness, or if male preferences lead to positive assortative mating for fitness, here we focus on female fitness and the potential for male mate preferences to reduce its heritable variation
Summary
Most studies of mate choice have focused on mate preference by females, because this sex typically has higher levels of parental investment and lower variance in realized fitness [1,2,3,4]. We focus on species with ‘‘typical’’ sex roles that experience sexual conflict due to antagonistic male persistence (e.g., unrelenting courtship and repeated mating attempts) that arises because the optimal outcomes of mating interactions often differ for males and females [13,14]. We focus on a different harmful consequence of females being subject to male persistence that only occurs when males evolve a mate preference for high-fecundity females: a reduced rate of adaptation
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
