| | |
Summary: vol. 174, no. 5 the american naturalist november 2009
Sexual Selection and the Random Union of Gametes:
Testing for a Correlation in Fitness between Mates
in Drosophila melanogaster
Nathaniel P. Sharp* and Aneil F. Agrawal
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B2, Canada
Submitted May 2, 2009; Accepted June 8, 2009; Electronically published September 16, 2009
abstract: Both males and females vary in fitness. While high-fitness
males typically have greater siring success, it is not clear whether
these males sire an equal fraction of offspring from all females or a
disproportionately large fraction with high-fitness females. The latter
nonrandom reproductive pattern can arise as the result of sexual
selection and creates a positive correlation in fitness between mates.
Such a correlation, if it reflects a positive genetic correlation between
mates with respect to fitness, increases the efficiency of selection,
reducing mutation load and speeding adaptation. While there is evi-
dence from many taxa that assortative mating for fitness may occur,
these studies typically focus on observed matings rather than realized
reproductive output. Here, we examine assortative mating for fitness
in Drosophila melanogaster, first in the context of virgin matings and
|
