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Runaway evolution from male-male competition

View ORCID ProfileAllen J. Moore, View ORCID ProfileJoel W. McGlothlin, View ORCID ProfileJason B. Wolf
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.17.444494
Allen J. Moore
1Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States
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  • For correspondence: ajmoore@uga.edu joelmcg@vt.edu j.b.wolf@bath.ac.uk
Joel W. McGlothlin
2Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States
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  • For correspondence: ajmoore@uga.edu joelmcg@vt.edu j.b.wolf@bath.ac.uk
Jason B. Wolf
3Milner Centre for Evolution and Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
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  • For correspondence: ajmoore@uga.edu joelmcg@vt.edu j.b.wolf@bath.ac.uk
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Abstract

Strikingly elaborate weapons and displays are widespread features of male contests for mates across the animal kingdom. Male combat is familiar to students of behavior, and yet while we understand how female mate choice results in a runaway process, how such evolutionary extremes arise from male-male competition is unclear. In a quantitative genetic model of sexual selection for a male signaling trait that mediates aggression in male-male contests, we show that an honest indicator of aggression can generate selection on itself by altering the social environment. This can cause selection to accelerate as the trait is elaborated, which can ultimately lead to runaway evolution. Thus, the key unifying feature of runaway sexual selection driven by either male-male competition or female mate choice is an evolving source of selection provided by the social environment. Our model identifies simple conditions generating runaway evolution and provides clear, testable predictions for empirical studies.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • Revised text, added figure 2

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted June 07, 2021.
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Runaway evolution from male-male competition
Allen J. Moore, Joel W. McGlothlin, Jason B. Wolf
bioRxiv 2021.05.17.444494; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.17.444494
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Runaway evolution from male-male competition
Allen J. Moore, Joel W. McGlothlin, Jason B. Wolf
bioRxiv 2021.05.17.444494; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.17.444494

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