Definition
Direct or indirect competitive interactions over access to females, their gametes or resources to attract females.
Introduction
Male–male competition is, along with female choice, one of two main mechanisms of sexual selection (Darwin 1871; Andersson 1994). However, male–male competition has received much less theoretical end empirical interest than female mate choice, perhaps because it is conceptually more straightforward and easier to comprehend (Parker 2014). Competition among males that increases their fitness (reproductive success) is performed to increase an individual’s access to females or their eggs. It is manifested before copulation (precopulatory male–male competition), between copulation and fertilization (postcopulatory male–male competition), or after fertilization. While it has long been believed that male–male competition and female choice are mutually reinforcing, research in recent decades...
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Reichard, M. (2016). Male–Male Strategies. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_108-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_108-1
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