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Female Reproductive Variance

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Synonyms

Female choice; Parental investment theory; Reproductive variance; Sexual selection

Definition

The degree to which sexual selection pressures female members of a species. Female reproductive variance is tied to the fertility of the individual and less to their ability to mate and reproduce. Hence, female reproductive variance is quite low relative to male reproductive variance.

Introduction

Research has found a pattern of reproductive variance for many species in which females have far less variability in their reproductive output than males. Three factors contribute to the pattern of mating behaviors that are typical for females: most females successfully reproduce, the amount of copulations shows a weak relationship with the number of offspring for females, and for many species, females have a greater minimum obligate investment to produce viable offspring.

Female Reproductive Variance

Angus Bateman is among the first to formally study reproductive variance. In 1948, Bateman...

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References

  • Bateman, A. J. (1948). Intra-sexual selection in Drosophila. Heredity, 2(3), 349–368.

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  • Buss, D. M. (2014). Evolutionary psychology: The new science of the mind (5th ed.). New York: Psychology Press.

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  • Colwell, M. A. (1986). The first documented case of polyandry for Wilson’s phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor). The Auk, 103(3), 611–612.

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  • Colwell, M. A., & Oring, L. W. (1988). Sex ratios and intrasexual competition for mates in a sex-role reversed shorebird, Wilson’s phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 22(3), 165–173.

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  • Trivers, R. (1972). Parental investment and sexual selection. In B. Campbell (Ed.), Sexual selection and the descent of man (pp. 136–179). New York: Aldine de Gruyter.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, USA

    Mark McCoy

  2. North Central College, Naperville, IL, USA

    Pat Nebl

Authors
  1. Mark McCoy
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  2. Pat Nebl
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark McCoy .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, MI, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Westfield State University, Westfield, MA, USA

    Joseph A Camilleri

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© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

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McCoy, M., Nebl, P. (2019). Female Reproductive Variance. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1976-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1976-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Female Reproductive Variance
    Published:
    06 March 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1976-2

  2. Original

    Female Reproductive Variance
    Published:
    10 April 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1976-1

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