Mating system and demographic constraints on the opportunity for sexual selection

Abstract

In monogamous systems the fitness difference between males due to competition for mates is limited to one female. This constraint presumably impedes the action of sexual selection relative to polygynous systems. In this paper, we use formal selection theory to show how population size and the adult sex ratio constrain the force of sexual selection and phenotypic evolution under monogamy and polygyny. The force of sexual selection is ultimately constrained by the number of males in a population and the theoretical limit to the rate of male phenotypic evolution is realized if a single male mates with one or many females. These results imply that the force of sexual selection is not strictly constrained by monogamy. The constraint on female phenotypic evolution is typically higher than the constraint on males under polygyny and similar to selection on males in monogamous systems. The sexual asymmetry in the force of selection under polygyny—not necessarily weak sexual selection on males of monogamous systems—may explain the prominence of sexual dimorphism in polygynous systems.