Sexual Selection

Sexual Selection PDF Author: Malte Andersson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691207275
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Bright colors, enlarged fins, feather plumes, song, horns, antlers, and tusks are often highly sex dimorphic. Why have males in many animals evolved more conspicuous ornaments, signals, and weapons than females? How can such traits evolve although they may reduce male survival? Such questions prompted Darwin's perhaps most scientifically controversial idea--the theory of sexual selection. It still challenges researchers today as they try to understand how competition for mates can favor the variety of sex-dimorphic traits. Reviewing theoretical and empirical work in this very active field, Malte Andersson, a leading contributor himself, provides a major up-to-date synthesis of sexual selection. The author describes the theory and its recent development; examines models, methods, and empirical tests; and identifies many unsolved problems. Among the topics discussed are the selection and evolution of mating preferences; relations between sexual selection and speciation; constraints on sexual selection; and sex differences in signals, body size, and weapons. The rapidly growing study of sexual selection in plants is also reviewed. This volume will interest students, teachers, and researchers in behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology.

Sexual Selection

Sexual Selection PDF Author: Malte Andersson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691207275
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Bright colors, enlarged fins, feather plumes, song, horns, antlers, and tusks are often highly sex dimorphic. Why have males in many animals evolved more conspicuous ornaments, signals, and weapons than females? How can such traits evolve although they may reduce male survival? Such questions prompted Darwin's perhaps most scientifically controversial idea--the theory of sexual selection. It still challenges researchers today as they try to understand how competition for mates can favor the variety of sex-dimorphic traits. Reviewing theoretical and empirical work in this very active field, Malte Andersson, a leading contributor himself, provides a major up-to-date synthesis of sexual selection. The author describes the theory and its recent development; examines models, methods, and empirical tests; and identifies many unsolved problems. Among the topics discussed are the selection and evolution of mating preferences; relations between sexual selection and speciation; constraints on sexual selection; and sex differences in signals, body size, and weapons. The rapidly growing study of sexual selection in plants is also reviewed. This volume will interest students, teachers, and researchers in behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology.

Gender Before Birth

Gender Before Birth PDF Author: Rajani Bhatia
Publisher: Feminist Technosciences
ISBN: 9780295999203
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book breaks new ground on the evolution and present technologies and practices of lifestyle sex selection, builds on and critiques feminist and STS theories of reproduction to develop the new concept of biopopulationism, and engages with the messy politics of sex selection in the United States.

In the Light of Evolution

In the Light of Evolution PDF Author: National Academy of Sciences
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
The Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia of the National Academy of Sciences address scientific topics of broad and current interest, cutting across the boundaries of traditional disciplines. Each year, four or five such colloquia are scheduled, typically two days in length and international in scope. Colloquia are organized by a member of the Academy, often with the assistance of an organizing committee, and feature presentations by leading scientists in the field and discussions with a hundred or more researchers with an interest in the topic. Colloquia presentations are recorded and posted on the National Academy of Sciences Sackler colloquia website and published on CD-ROM. These Colloquia are made possible by a generous gift from Mrs. Jill Sackler, in memory of her husband, Arthur M. Sackler.

Sexual Selection: A Very Short Introduction

Sexual Selection: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Marlene Zuk
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191084409
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
What is responsible for the differences between the sexes in so many animals, from the brilliant plumage of birds of paradise to the antlers on deer? And why are the traits that distinguish the sexes sometimes apparently detrimental to survival? Even when they look more or less alike, why do males and females sometimes behave differently? Questions like these have intrigued scientists and the public alike for many years, and new discoveries are showing us both how wildly variable the natural world is, and how some basic principles can help explain much of that variation. Like natural selection, sexual selection is a process that results from differential representation of genes in successive generations. Under sexual selection, however, the crucial characteristics that determine whether an individual reproduces depend on sexual competition, rather than survival ability. This Very Short Introduction considers the history of our understanding of sexual selection, from Darwin's key insights to the modern day. Considering the investment animals place on reproduction, variation in mating systems, sexual conflict, and the origin of sexual dimorphism, Marlene Zuk and Leigh Simmons discuss questions such as whether females can really choose between males on aesthetic grounds, and how sexual conflict is resolved in different species. They conclude with a consideration of the thorny question of how, and even if, sexual selection theory applies to humans. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Sexual Selection and the Origins of Human Mating Systems

Sexual Selection and the Origins of Human Mating Systems PDF Author: Alan F. Dixson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199559422
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
This book demonstrates how detailed comparative analyses of the anatomy, reproductive physiology, and behaviour of non-human primates and other mammals can offer profound insights into the origins of human sexual behaviour.

Current Perspectives on Sexual Selection

Current Perspectives on Sexual Selection PDF Author: Thierry Hoquet
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9401795851
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
This root-and-branch re-evaluation of Darwin’s concept of sexual selection tackles the subject from historical, epistemological and theoretical perspectives. Contributions from a wealth of disciplines have been marshaled for this volume, with key figures in behavioural ecology, philosophy, and the history of science adding to its wide-ranging relevance. Updating the reader on the debate currently live in behavioural ecology itself on the centrality of sexual selection, and with coverage of developments in the field of animal aesthetics, the book details the current state of play, while other chapters trace the history of sexual selection from Darwin to today and inquire into the neurobiological bases for partner choices and the comparisons between the hedonic brain in human and non-human animals. Welcome space is given to the social aspects of sexual selection, particularly where Darwin drew distinctions between eager males and coy females and rationalized this as evolutionary strategy. Also explored are the current definition of sexual selection (as opposed to natural selection) and its importance in today’s biological research, and the impending critique of the theory from the nascent field of animal aesthetics. As a comprehensive assessment of the current health, or otherwise, of Darwin’s theory, 140 years after the publication of his Descent of Man, the book offers a uniquely rounded view that asks whether ‘sexual selection’ is in itself a progressive or reactionary notion, even as it explores its theoretical relevance in the technical biological study of the twenty-first century.

Unnatural Selection

Unnatural Selection PDF Author: Mara Hvistendahl
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1459614577
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 546

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Book Description
"Lianyungang, a booming port city, has China's most extreme gender ratio for children under four: 163 boys for every 100 girls. These numbers don't seem terribly grim, but in ten years, the skewed sex ratio will pose a colossal challenge. By the time those children reach adulthood, their generation will have twenty-four million more men than women. The prognosis for China's neighbors is no less bleak: Asia now has 163 million females "missing" from its population. Gender imbalance reaches far beyond Asia, affecting Georgia, Eastern Europe, and cities in the U.S. where there are significant immigrant populations. The world, therefore, is becoming increasingly male, and this mismatch is likely to create profound social upheaval. Historically, eras in which there have been an excess of men have produced periods of violent conflict and instability. Mara Hvistendahl has written a stunning, impeccably-researched book that does not flinch from examining not only the consequences of the misbegotten policies of sex selection but Western complicity with them"--

Darwin and the Making of Sexual Selection

Darwin and the Making of Sexual Selection PDF Author: Evelleen Richards
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022643690X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 704

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Book Description
Sexual selection, or the struggle for mates, was of considerable strategic importance to Darwin s theory of evolution as he first outlined it in the "Origin of Species," and later, in the "Descent of Man," it took on a much wider role. There, Darwin s exhaustive elaboration of sexual selection throughout the animal kingdom was directed to substantiating his view that human racial and sexual differences, not just physical differences but certain mental and moral differences, had evolved primarily through the action of sexual selection. It was the culmination of a lifetime of intellectual effort and commitment. Yet even though he argued its validity with a great array of critics, sexual selection went into abeyance with Darwin s death, not to be revived until late in the twentieth century, and even today it remains a controversial theory. In unfurling the history of sexual selection, Evelleen Richards brings to vivid life Darwin the man, not the myth, and the social and intellectual roots of his theory building."

Gendercide

Gendercide PDF Author: Mary Anne Warren
Publisher: Totowa, N.J. : Rowman & Allanheld
ISBN: 9780847673346
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
'Readers interested in feminist studies, applied ethics, or social and political philosophy should find Gendercide especially interesting and informative. Highly recommended.'-CHOICE

Ethics and Human Reproduction

Ethics and Human Reproduction PDF Author: Christine Overall
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0415635047
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
In Ethics and Human Reproduction, Christine Overall blends feminist theory and philosophical expertise to provide a coherent analysis of a range of moral questions and social policy issues pertaining to human reproduction and the new reproductive technologies. Topics covered include: sex preselection, artificial insemination, prenatal diagnosis, abortion, in vitro fertilisation and embryo transfer, surrogate motherhood, and childbirth. Throughout the book, the author examines the values and assumptions underlying common perceptions of sexuality and fertility, the status of the foetus, the value of children, the nature of parenting, and the roles of women. In so doing, she develops a feminist approach to answering questions about reproductive rights and freedoms, the value of a genetic link between mother and their offspring, the commodification of reproduction, and the effects of reproductive technologies on women and children. This book should be essential reading for anyone interested in the new reproductive technologies, biomedical ethics, and women's health.