Anthropology 7 Problem Set

Sexual Selection Theory

Anna Weinberg
Monday 3pm section
21 Jan 15
!1) Imagine two rockets are sent off on a one-year voyage around Mars. The crew on the first rocket, the “USS
Challenger”, is composed of ten men and one woman, whereas the crew of the second rocket, the “USS
Discovery”, is composed of ten women and one man.
!a. What’s the maximum possible number of children you might expect to find on each rocket when they return
to Earth after one year (assuming no twins, triplets, etc.)?
!For the USS Challenger, one child (with the woman possibly pregnant again, so one child and one unborn). For
the Discovery, 10 children (with each woman possibly pregnant again, so 10 children and 10 unborn).
!!
b. Assume both ships arrived on Earth with their respective maximum possible number of children on board.
!What is the average reproductive success of a woman on the USS Challenger? _______1___
(i.e., average number of children/woman)
What is the average reproductive success of a woman on the USS Discovery? _____1_____
What is the average reproductive success of a man on the USS Challenger? ____0.1______
What is the average reproductive success of a man on the USS Discovery? ______1____
!c. Compare the USS Challenger to the USS Discovery.
Is there any difference in the average reproductive success for women on the two vessels? ___no______
Is there any difference in the average reproductive success for men on the two vessels? ______yes; high degree
of competition on Challenger___
!d. Instead of considering averages, consider the variance in reproductive success. Does the reproductive success
of women vary much? ____none______
What about the reproductive success of men? _____yes highly_____
Which sex has higher variance in reproductive success? _____males_____
!Is there a difference in the extent to which males versus females can enhance their reproductive success by
having sex with more members of the opposite sex? Why?
!Yes. Males can enhance their repro success by having as many partners as possible because they can impregnate
a woman in minutes and move on to the next, as opposed to going through 9 months of pregnancy for each
possible child.
!What is the relationship between this fact and the length of time it takes to have sex, versus the length of time it
takes for a fetus to mature in the womb?
!A male could potentially ejaculate and impregnate a woman within 10 minutes, whereas pregnancy’s 9 month
term limits the woman’s ability for many partners.
!f. Under ancestral conditions, there was no Gerber’s baby food — infant diets were restricted to mother’s milk.
Would the need to feed a child through nursing affect the above relationship between male and female maximum
reproductive rates? Would it affect the difference (if any) in variance in reproductive success between human
men and human women?

I would not think that breastfeeding would affect the relationship between male maximum reproductive rates (as
he is not involved at this point), but would render the mother unable to take on additional pregnancy until the
first infant is no longer breastfeeding— thus extending the “pregnancy mode” longer than 9 months.
!
2) Now imagine that 1000 rockets are sent into space on a year long voyage around Mars. This time all of the
ships have a crew of ten men and one woman. The women on these ships differ in their sexual behavior, and
these differences are heritable. One-third of the women are strictly monogamous — they only have sex with one
of the men on their ship. One third of the women are mostly monogamous, but do have affairs with a couple of
other men on the ship during the voyage. And one third of the women are promiscuous — they have sex with
all of the men on their ship.
Assume that these women’s daughters inherit their mother’s sexual behavior. In the next generation,
what proportion of these daughters will be strictly monogamous? _____1/3_____ What proportion will be
mostly monogamous? ___1/3_______ What proportion will be promiscuous? ____1/3____ Do these
proportions differ from those that characterized their mothers’ generation? ____no______ If this experiment is
conducted on the daughters’ generation, and on their daughters’ generation, and so on, what will the proportions
of each mating strategy be after many generations?
!If each generation of daughters has a relatively “plain” gene pool of partners where the mother’s sexual behavior
gene could remain dominant, one could assume the 1/3 ratio to generally repeat and gradually become smaller
and smaller as the genes become “diluted”.
!3) Next imagine that 1000 rockets are sent into space on a year long voyage around Mars, but this time all of
the ships have a crew of ten women and one man. The men on these ships differ in their sexual behavior, and
these differences are heritable. One-third of the men are strictly monogamous — they only have sex with one of
the women on their ship. One third of the men are mostly monogamous, but do have affairs with a couple of
other women on the ship during the voyage. And one third of the men are promiscuous — they have sex with
all of the women on their ship.
Assume that these men’s sons inherit their father’s proclivities for engaging in these forms of sexual
behavior. In the next generation, will the sons exhibit these sexual behaviors in the same proportions as were
found in the previous generation?
!No, the proportions will be thrown off by the 2/3s of men having multiple partners versus the 1/3 of
monogamous men. For example, there might be 1 child birthed from a monogamous relationship versus five
children from the affair-having men and 10 children from the promiscuous men.
!Will the three strategies exist in equal proportions in the sons of this next generation? If not, which will
predominate — strictly monogamous sons, mostly monogamous sons, or promiscuous sons?
!No. The promiscuous sons will naturally have the most offspring, so their genetics will soon dominate.
!If this experiment were repeated on the sons’ generation, and on their sons’ generation, and so on, what will the
proportions of each mating strategy be after many generations?
!After many generations, the majority of people would have promiscuous/affair-having genetics because thats
what the majority of people would be the result of.
!4) In most mammalian species, females make a large and physiologically obligatory investment in offspring:
internal fertilization, placentation, a long gestation period, and a prolonged period after birth in which the
offspring is nursed. Although the males in some mammalian species provision and protect their offspring to
some extent, this is not terribly common: most male mammals invest little or nothing in offspring. This means
that females have a lot to lose by choosing the wrong mate — therefore, females should be especially choosy,
mating only with males that will confer benefits to their offspring. Because most male mammals are not
investing in offspring, all that they have to offer a female is the quality of their genes. Therefore, females should
be sensitive to cues of “good genes” and prefer males that display these cues. For example, good health could
be the result of a genome that is particularly resistent to pathogens; in contrast, good health could merely be the
result of good luck.
!a. What costs does a female incur if she mates with a male that possesses genes that make him more susceptible
to disease?
Her highly-expensive investment of pregnancy and child rearing would have a poor return. The child would be
far more likely to die within the risky and critical first few years of life, making the mother’s nearly year-long
pregnancy and rearing an effort lost.
!b. What incentive is there for males to develop deceptive cues to good health?
The illusion of good health is difficult to distinguish from genuine good health at first glance, and so males with
deceptive good health have a higher likelihood of securing a mate and thus passing on their genes than those
without cues.
!!
c. What is the cost to a male of mating with females who turn out to be relatively unsuccessful reproductively?
How does this compare with what females have to lose?
To a male, the cost of a “wasted” mating session is minimal as he has invested only minutes of his time and
possible genetics, versus the waste of a female’s many months of physical bearing and the dangerous high-risk
event of childbirth.
!5) The genes in males stand to be multiplied greatly from multiple matings. This fact makes sexual access to
females a limited and valuable resource, and heritable design features in males (genes) will be differentially
spread, and maintained over generations, to the extent they cause males to be differentially successful in
acquiring additional mates or sexual opportunities. Males, therefore, should be designed by natural selection to
be more motivated to multiply the number of their mates, seek out additional sexual opportunities, to fight or
otherwise compete for mate quantity as well as mate quality. In consequence, one would expect to find
adaptations in the male body and brain that are designed to improve success in mating competition. There are
several paths by which this could, in principle, be accomplished. One way is simply to engage in physical
combat with other males in order to drive them off. One common signature of this selection pressure is the
relative size of males versus females in a species: Other things being equal, the more males have an opportunity
to monopolize females by driving off males, the larger males are compared to females. In addition, males often
possess special offensive and defensive weapons, such as the antlers in deer species. An alternative strategy for
males is to provision the females, for example by exchanging gifts for matings, or provisioning their offspring.
Still another strategy that is seen in many species, such as the peacock, is for males to possess elaborate
ornamentation which is costly to maintain, and easy for disease or poor nutrition to disrupt. This advertises the
relative health of males, so that females who can detect relative health can insure healthier offspring by favoring
males with better ornamentation.
!In most deer species, males do not invest in females or their offspring. Males are larger than females.
Furthermore, males possess antlers, but females do not. Why is it that only adult males possess antlers, and not
juvenile males or females? What factors might determine which of the above strategies (direct combat,
provisioning, ornamentation) is adopted my males of a given species?
!Sexually-mature males, as opposed to females or juveniles, possess antlers as a defense mechanism against other
males seeking to usurp the role of alpha male, to protect the male’s mate and offspring, and to battle other males
to acquire their mates. Thus, the bigger and more elaborate the antlers, the more helpful they are to the male.
They also act as ornamentation and work to attract females by advertising the male’s abilities.
!6) What about a species in which females do not invest in offspring, but males do? For example, in certain
seahorses, females lay eggs into the pouch of a male, who then incubates them. The female never has any
further contact with that male or her offspring. Which sex do you think will be choosier about who it mates
with? _______Male, because the male has to invest time in the gestational period.___
!Which sex do you think will be larger and more aggressive? Which sex do you think will be more
promiscuous?
!One could assume the female would be larger and more aggressive because they act as the sexual partner with
the ability to have the highest reproductive rate. Females would likely battle each other to win the gestational
ability of the male. One could also assume females would be more promiscuous than males, because females
have only the short time of intercourse versus longer time of gestation.
!7) Let’s go back to considering species in which females invest more in offspring than males. What selective
advantage is there for females to mate with one male rather than another? If the female is limited in the number
of offspring she can produce, she can still increase her reproductive success by enhancing the quality of the
offspring she produces. The choice of male she mates with will influence the quality of the offspring she
produces. Two ways in which the female can improve the quality of her offspring are to choose males with
good genes (cues to heritable fitness) and to choose males that will invest in her offspring. If a male is in good
condition and health, then, to the extent that the male’s condition is a function of his heritable traits, the female
can pass on the same traits to her offspring by mating with him. Additionally, as may be the case with the
peacock’s tail, if a male is attractive to females and therefore enjoys higher reproductive success, then by mating
with him the female can herself produce attractive sons who will have high reproductive success.
In some species males may also make a significant contribution to the care of the offspring. Females
can improve the quality of her offspring by choosing males who will make a larger investment in them. Females
may favor males who possess or control the resources needed to successfully raise her offspring and show signs
of the willingness to invest these resources.
From the point of view of both sexes, there is a tradeoff between investing further in existing offspring
or in investing in the production of additional offspring. However, the optimal balance between investment in
these two options often differs for the two sexes. Females of many species make a larger physiologically
obligatory investment in existing offspring. Female mammals carry their offspring in a womb for an extended
pregnancy. In addition, investment in her offspring continues through lactation and may even extend beyond
weaning (as it does in humans). While pregnant and lactating, the female does not usually have the option to
invest in additional offspring. Options are often limited for males too.
!Consider a male antelope from a species that eats grass. Grass is a readily available, but energy-poor food
resource. There is not much a male antelope could do to provision a female and/or her offspring that the female
and her offspring couldn’t do much more efficiently themselves. He could possibly pull up tufts of grass and
give them to the female or their offspring, but not even the female does this for her own offspring since it is an
inefficient means of investment.
!How would a male antelope compete to produce the most healthy grandchildren?
!A male would compete for the healthiest grandchildren by choosing a mate who displays the most number of
good-health factors as opposed to her peers. That would (likely) assure a healthy crop of children. To have
healthy grandchildren, the original male could intervene and fight off ineligible potential males trying to mate
with the original male’s offspring. Also, the original male could kill off any grandchildren babies that displayed
mutations or other signs of ill health.
!8) Consider a male chimpanzee who can hunt. Meat is a compact, high calorie resource that can be easily
transported. Does a male chimpanzee have ways of competing for sexual access to females that are not
available to a male antelope?
!A male chimp can hunt and bring back meat to the family/herd, but a male antelope cannot bring home a head of
lettuce to the herd. Male’s hunting ability also works as an additional display of ability to potential mates,
whereas male and female herbivores have an equal playing field in regards to food collection.
!What kind of psychological mechanisms for mate choice might you expect to find in a female chimpanzee?
!One could expect female chimps to desire physically large, fat/muscular mates because these traits would be
proof of excellent hunting ability.
!!
9) Now, consider a male songbird. The female lays an egg that needs to be incubated until it hatches. Both the
males and females are capable of incubating the eggs because, unlike the fetus in the mammal, they are external
to the mother. As a result, the male can make a valuable contribution to the care of his offspring. Additionally
songbirds tend to eat energy rich foods such as seeds and insects, which the male can provide to the offspring as
efficiently as females. One does indeed find that male songbirds do make significant contributions to the care of
their offspring.
!Imagine a species of songbird in which males invest an equal amount of care in offspring as do females. Would
you expect males in such a species to be more likely or less likely to have special display structures designed to
attract mates (such as brightly colored feathers)? What about specialized structures for aggressive male-male
combat for access to females?
!
I would expect males to be less likely to have special display structures because they are not just mating and
leaving in an effort to have a maximum number of offspring greater than the female’s per time unit.
!Some species of this kind engage in elaborate courtship dances with females. In these dances, what do you
think they are advertising?
!I think they are advertising their desirable genetic traits through courtship dances. The male exhibits his physical
fitness (ability to protect/get away from danger/get food) and good health (ex: attractive plumage versus
molting) that the female will be able to acquire and pass on to future generations.
!!
In a species of this kind, would you expect males to mate indiscriminately? Or would you expect them to be
choosy, like female mammals are?
!I would expect males to be choosy in that he has to pick a female “worthy” enough to warrant the time/energy
investment and vulnerable exposure to other competing males during the mating, along with dedicating a certain
amount of time to caring and raising for young (as opposed to just mating and leaving).
!10) Now consider so-called ‘sex-reversed’ species where males invest more in offspring than females do.
Imagine that there is a species of bird in which the male bird incubates the eggs and provisions the female and
her offspring with seeds and insects.
!What kinds of adaptations would you expect to find in the females of this species? Would you expect that the
males or the females to be physically larger? Which sex would you expect adaptations for combat? Which sex
will be choosier? Which sex will have more highly elaborate displays?
!One would expect the female to have the highly elaborate mating displays, along with adaptations for combat (to
fight off females competing for a desirable mate). Conversely, males would be choosier as they are investing a
lot more of their time/energy in incubating the eggs and providing food for the entire nest. Males would likely
be larger/more strength oriented because of the demanding nature of their roles, while the female’s main
physicality requirement is fighting off other females.
!11) Discussion questions: Judging by the anatomy, secondary sexual characteristics, and behavior of modern
humans, which sexual selection pressures seem to have acted on our ancestors? Do you expect women’s and
men’s sexual and mating psychologies to be identical? In what ways, if any, do you expect them to differ? Is
this what you observe?
!Female’s main mating display seems to be in terms of physical looks representing youth, health, and fertility—
basically advertising themselves as maximally viable incubators. Males main mating display revolves around
what he has to offer for the female in terms of protection from predators/other humans and food provisions for
the female and offspring, especially when she is not in peak physical fitness during pregnancy and for a period
after childbirth. One would expect male and female sexual/mating psychologies to be similar (especially in
modern times) but different at the most basic level. The female has to invest upwards of 9 months per child and
thus must be highly selective in choosing a mate, while the main evolutionary goal of males is to impregnate as
many females as possible with far less regard to the female’s ability as a mate.