Sexual networks: measuring sexual selection in structured, polyandrous populations

摘要

1. Introduction Darwin [1] defined sexual selection as a selective process operating on indi- vidual variation in the number and reproductive quality of reproductive partners owing to intrasexual competition. Over the past 40 years, sexual selec- tion has emerged as a potent agent of Darwinian evolution [2], and driver of fundamental evolutionary processes such as speciation [3-5], local extinction rates [6] as well as rates of mutation and the tempo of molecular evolution [7,8]. The way sexual selection affects these phenomena depends on the strength with which it acts on individuals within a population. Therefore, a main goal in evolutionary biology has been to both measure sexual selection and understand the forces that determine its strength [9].