Evolution of choosiness dictates whether search costs of mate choice enhance speciation by sexual selection.

Abstract excerpt

The role of sexual selection in speciation is implicated in both empirical case studies and larger comparative works. However, sexual selection faces two major problems in driving speciation. First, because females with novel preferences search for their initially rare males, search costs are expected to curtail initial sexual divergence. Second, if these populations come back into sympatry, sexual divergence may...

Topics

• Animals
• Female
• Genetic Speciation
• Hybridization, Genetic
• Male
• Mating Preference, Animal
• Phenotype
• Selection, Genetic
• Sexual Selection
• Sympatry