Trusted, Automoderated users
5,366
edits
Sexual selection: Difference between revisions
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
→Sexual selection can increase but also decrease fitness
| Line 3: | Line 3: | ||
== Sexual selection can increase but also decrease fitness == | == Sexual selection can increase but also decrease fitness == | ||
{{See also|{{W|Functional extinction}}}}Biologist John Endler conducted an experiment with Guppies (''Poecilia'') in a tank without predators. The female fish selected males who had strong contrast to the background as they stood out during mate selection. This then made the fish more visible to predators later reintroduced into the same tank.<ref>https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-015-7682-6_7</ref><ref>[https://www.dartmouth.edu/~robertcox/Teaching_files/lecture9.ppt http://www.dartmouth.edu/~robertcox/Teaching_files/lecture9.ppt]</ref> This clearly demonstrates that sexual selection does not necessarily further and can even ''reduce'' survival chances ([[fitness]]), and is heavily dependent on the immediate environment. | {{See also|{{W|Functional extinction}}}}Biologist John Endler conducted an experiment with Guppies (''Poecilia'') in a tank without predators. The female fish selected males who had strong contrast to the background as they stood out during mate selection. This then made the fish more visible to predators later reintroduced into the same tank.<ref>https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-015-7682-6_7</ref><ref>[https://www.dartmouth.edu/~robertcox/Teaching_files/lecture9.ppt http://www.dartmouth.edu/~robertcox/Teaching_files/lecture9.ppt]</ref> This clearly demonstrates that sexual selection does not necessarily further and can even ''reduce'' survival chances ([[fitness]]), and is heavily dependent on the immediate environment. | ||
Related to this, one study showed men who have lots of sex were not healthier than others by various metrics.<ref>http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/4/1/160603</ref> | Related to this, one study showed men who have lots of [[sex]] were not healthier than others by various metrics.<ref>http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/4/1/160603</ref> | ||
Unlike animals, however, which are typically very adapted to a narrow ecology, humans are highly adaptive and hence less effected by sudden environmental changes and hence less likely to face extinction due to sexual selection for superficial traits (to the extent this kind of selection is taking place at all). | Unlike animals, however, which are typically very adapted to a narrow ecology, humans are highly adaptive and hence less effected by sudden environmental changes and hence less likely to face extinction due to sexual selection for superficial traits (to the extent this kind of selection is taking place at all). | ||