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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Theresa RuegerORCiD, Dr Chancey MacDonaldORCiD
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The strength and direction of sexual selection can vary among populations. However, spatial variability is rarely explored at the level of the social group. Here we investigate sexual selection and sex roles in the paternally mouthbrooding, socially monogamous, and site-attached pajama cardinalfish, Sphaeramia nematoptera. Females were larger and more aggressive and had a longer dorsal fin filament, indicating reversed sex roles. At the scale of social groups, we show that the Bateman gradient and reproductive variance depend on the sex ratio and size of groups. In small and medium-sized groups with balanced or male-biased sex ratios, Bateman gradients were steeper for females, whereas gradients were equally steep for both sexes in large groups or when the sex ratio was female biased. For both sexes, reproductive variance increased with group size and with a higher male-to-female sex ratio. In S. nematoptera, mating opportunities outside the socially monogamous pair appear to impact sexual selection. We conclude that strength and direction of sexual selection can be masked by social dynamics in group-living species when considering only population and large-scale demographic processes.
Author(s): Rueger T, MacDonald C, Harrison HB, Gardiner NM, Jones GP, Mills SC
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: The American Naturalist
Year: 2024
Volume: 204
Issue: 3
Pages: 289–303
Print publication date: 01/09/2024
Online publication date: 30/07/2024
Acceptance date: 28/03/2017
ISSN (print): 0003-0147
ISSN (electronic): 1537-5323
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
URL: https://doi.org/10.1086/731422
DOI: 10.1086/731422
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