Parental Investment And Sexual Selection Summary

Parental Investment and Sexual Selection Summary Sexual selection is a form of natural selection. Sexual selection is the ability of an individual successfully copulate with a mate based on its inherited characteristics. Many species inherited features that are actually harmful to their survival. Peacocks are the perfect example; because of their colorful tail feathers, they are more likely to attract predators. Trivers (1972) showed that the most important variable of sexual selection is the parental investment of their sexes. The parental investment of the sexes affects the ideas of the female and male choice. The pattern of parental investment from the early evolutionary suggested that immobile sex cells (eggs) fertilized by mobile sex
cells (sperms) Trivers (1972). In general, if the parent of one sex put in more, then its members has to compete to be able to find a mate. If the amount of parent investment is equal, then sexual selection will work similarly on the two sexes. Moreover, the male is more vulnerable to cuckoldry for those species with internal fertilization and dominant male parental investment Trivers (1972). Sexual selection has also led to the evolution of adaptations for many species to fight vulnerability such as cuckoldry. In many monogamous species, the mortality rates are higher among females than males. In many non-monogamous species, the mortality rates are higher males than females Trivers (1972).

Trivers, R. 1972. Parental Investment and Sexual Selection. Aldine Publishing Company. Chicago. 179pp.