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Competition for Resources Desired by Females

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Synonyms

Female intra-sexual competition for resources and mates; Male-male competition for resources; Resource-defense polygyny

Definition

Intra-sexual competition (in both females and males) for access to the resources necessary for female reproduction and parental investment.

Introduction

In the context of sexual selection, females compete more intensely for resources and males compete more intensely for mates. Females can compete with each other for access to resources and/or express biased selection for males that control resources. On the other hand, males can compete for mates by controlling the resources that females desire.

The nature and distribution of the desired resources can influence the institution of different mating systems (who mates with whom). In particular, males that can monopolize resources can also monopolize mates. This can establish a conflict of interest between males and females, as males benefit by having more mates and females benefit by limiting resource...

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Correspondence to Stephen Heap .

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Heap, S. (2020). Competition for Resources Desired by Females. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1981-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1981-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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