Synonyms
Definition
Competition between males for access to females or the resources desired by females
Introduction
Sexual selection leads to the development of traits and behaviors that improve reproductive success. Darwin recognized two types of sexual selection: intersexual and intrasexual selection. Intersexual selection occurs when one sex chooses which members of the opposite sex to mate with, while intrasexual selection occurs when members of the same sex compete for mates (Darwin 1871).
In many species, males compete through intrasexual competition to gain access to females. Critical work in Drosophila in the 1940s revealed that the mean number of offspring a male can produce increases with the number of mates he has, while the mean number of offspring a female can produce does not vary greatly and is not limited by access to mates (as long as there is at least one mate) (Bateman 1948). This finding also applies to mammals. For...
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Newman, L.E., Higham, J.P. (2019). Intrasexual Male Competition. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1979-1
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