Females frequently mate with several males, whose sperm then compete to fertilize
available ova. Sperm competition represents a potent selective force that is expected to …

The consequences of polyandry for female fitness are controversial. Sexual conflict studies
and a meta‐analysis of mating rates in insects suggest that there is a longevity cost when …

Short-term evolutionary potential depends on the additive genetic variance in the
population. The additive variance is often measured as heritability, the fraction of the total …

▪ Abstract In contrast to Bateman's principle, there is now increasing evidence that female
fitness can depend on the number of mates obtained. A number of genetic benefits have …

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a review of mate choice and genetic quality,
defines mate choice, and discusses some of the key issues about how individuals can …

Insects display a staggering diversity of mating and social behaviours. Studying these
systems provides insights into a wide range of evolutionary and behavioural questions, such …

Theory predicts that costly sexual traits should be reduced when individuals are in poor
condition (ie traits should exhibit condition‐dependent expression). It is therefore widely …

Despite serving the primary objective of ensuring that at least one sperm cell reaches and
fertilises an ovum, the male ejaculate (ie spermatozoa and seminal fluid) is a …

Polyandry generates selection on males through sperm competition, which has broad
implications for the evolution of ejaculates and male reproductive anatomy. Comparative …

Environmental conditions experienced by parents are increasingly recognized to affect
offspring performance. We set out to investigate the effect of parental larval diet on offspring …