Definition
The degree to which a male allocates resources towards competing with male conspecifics or providing indirect care towards mates and/or offspring in order to boost his reproductive fitness.
Introduction
Same-sex competition and intersexual choice are key components of sexual selection. Trivers (1972) proposed that, in sexually reproducing species, intrasexual selection and intersexual choice are related to sex-specific investments (energy, resources, time) in offspring. Sex differences in fitness opportunities and payoffs contribute to sex differences in mating strategies (Geary 2010). In many mammalian species, females are the more ecological sex, meaning their reproductive function is more directly tied to availability of resources like food and safety. Conversely, male reproductive function is more directly tied to reproductive opportunities, contributing to higher...
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Straftis, A., Gray, P. (2020). Male-Male Competition or Male Provisioning?. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_150-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_150-1
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