Runaway sexual selection with paternal transmission of the male trait and gene-culture determination of the female preference.
Sexual selection is modeled with a male viability-reducing trait and a female mating preference for that trait both of which are culturally transmitted. Both the male trait and the female preference are transmitted only between same-sex individuals, so that non-random association between the trait and the preference, which would give rise to a Fisherian runaway process, cannot arise. Inclusion of an autosomal gene that confers a female predisposition to acquire a certain preference is shown to allow the coevolution of the male trait and the female preference by a Fisherian process. This holds true even when the female preference has a slight viability cost, provided the male cultural transmission is not perfect. It is also suggested that a Fisherian process can be more easily initiated in these models than in the conventional genetic models. Furthermore, a Fisherian process may cause cultural transmission of female preference to evolve. Additionally, polymorphism can be maintained at the predisposition locus if heterozygous females have a stronger predisposition to acquire the preference than homozygotes. Our models may be applicable to the case when the male trait is a Y-linked genetic or environmentally determined trait.
Ihara
Yasuo
Y
Stanford University, CA 94305-5020, USA. iharay@charles.stanford.edu
Aoki
Kenichi
K
Feldman
Marcus W
MW
D000818:Animals; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D005824:Genetics, Behavioral; D040582:Inheritance Patterns; D008297:Male; D008957:Models, Genetic; D012730:Sex Chromosomes / Q000235:genetics; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*