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Behavioral Ecology Vol. 10 No. 4: 462-464
© 1999 International Society for Behavioral Ecology

Forum

Female multiple mating, inbreeding avoidance, and fitness: it is not only the magnitude of costs and benefits that counts

D. J. Hosken and W. U. Blanckenhorn

Zoologisches Museum, Universität Zürich-Irchel, Winterthurerstr. 190, CH-8057, Switzerland

Received 19 May 1998; revised 16 October 1998; accepted 22 December 1998.

While males are expected to be promiscuous, the adaptive significance of females copulating with multiple males is less clear. This is because male reproductive success typically relates directly to the number of females inseminated, whereas for females reproduction is usually unaffected by the number of ejaculates received beyond one (Bateman, 1948Go; Parker, 1992bGo; Thornhill and Alcock, 1983Go). Female multiple mating (defined here as females mating with multiple males) may be male driven, but females often directly solicit copulations from a number of males, and it is becoming increasingly clear that many (or most) females in a wide range of taxa are genetically polyandrous (Gowaty, 1994Go).

The benefits to females of such behavior may be direct, such as nutrients or fertility insurance (e.g., Birkhead and Fletcher, 1995Go; Sheldon, 1994Go; Simmons, 1992Go) or, alternatively, benefits may be genetic. Genetic benefit arguments explaining female multiple mating . . . [Full Text of this Article]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

REFERENCES


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