One size does not fit all: female-male interactions on the path to fertilization.

In Brief: Female-male interactions shape fertilization outcomes, with broad implications from evolutionary biology to applied studies of fertility. This review discusses our current knowledge of female-male interactions at each stage of the fertilization process across externally and internally fertilizing species.

Abstract: Extensive research indicates that fertilization outcomes are shaped by individual female and male traits that reflect their intrinsic quality.

Examining the potential for resource-dependent female reproductive fluid-sperm interactive effects in a livebearing fish.

Sexually selected traits can be costly to produce and maintain. The amount of resources available to an individual is therefore expected to influence investment in costly sexual traits. While resource-dependent expression of sexually selected traits has traditionally been examined in males, resource limitation can also influence how sexual selection operates in females.

Resource-dependent investment in male sexual traits in a viviparous fish.

Exaggerated and conspicuous sexually selected traits are often costly to produce and maintain. Costly traits are expected to show resource-dependent expression, since limited resources prevent animals from investing maximally in multiple traits simultaneously. However, there may be critical periods during an individual's life where the expression of traits is altered if resources are limited.

Fertilization mode differentially impacts the evolution of vertebrate sperm components.

Environmental change frequently drives morphological diversification, including at the cellular level. Transitions in the environment where fertilization occurs (i.e.

Are behavioral responses to eyespots in sticklebacks influenced by the visual environment? An experimental examination.

Eyespots are taxonomically widespread color patterns consisting of large concentric rings that are commonly assumed to protect prey by influencing the behaviors of predators. Although there is ample experimental evidence supporting an anti-predator function of eyespots in terrestrial animals, whether eyespots have a similar deterring function in aquatic animals remains unclear. Furthermore, studies in terrestrial systems suggest that the protective function of eyespots depends on ambient light conditions where predators encounter them, but this effect has never been tested in aquatic environments.

SpermTree, a species-level database of sperm morphology spanning the animal tree of life.

Sperm are the most morphologically variable cell type known, despite performing the same functional role of fertilizing eggs across all sexually reproducing species. Sperm morphology commonly varies among individuals, populations, closely related species, and across animal phyla. Sperm morphology has long been used as a tool for placing species in a phylogenetic context and a range of selective forces are hypothesized to influence sperm evolution and diversification.

Sex-specific inbreeding depression: A meta-analysis.

Inbreeding depression, the reduced fitness of the offspring of related individuals, can affect males and females differently. Although a comprehensive theoretical framework describing the causes of sex-specific inbreeding depression is lacking, empirical evidence suggests that often one sex tends to be more vulnerable than the other. However, the generality, direction, and degree of sex-specific difference in inbreeding depression remains enigmatic as studies on this topic have reported conflicting results.

Does brain size affect mate choice? An experimental examination in pygmy halfbeaks.

Choosing a mate is one of the most important decisions in an animal's lifetime. Female mate choice is often guided by the presence or intensity of male sexual ornaments, which must be integrated and compared among potential mates. Individuals with greater cognitive abilities may be better at evaluating and comparing sexual ornaments, even when the difference in ornaments is small.

Fertilization mode drives sperm length evolution across the animal tree of life.

Evolutionary biologists have endeavoured to explain the extraordinary diversity of sperm morphology across animals for more than a century. One hypothesis to explain sperm diversity is that sperm length is shaped by the environment where fertilization takes place (that is, fertilization mode). Evolutionary transitions in fertilization modes may transform how selection acts on sperm length, probably by affecting postcopulatory mechanisms of sperm competition and the scope for cryptic female choice.

Corrigendum to: Male-male behavioral interactions drive social-dominance mediated differences in ejaculate traits.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araa118.].

Weapons Evolve Faster Than Sperm in Bovids and Cervids.

In polyandrous species, males face reproductive competition both before and after mating. Sexual selection thus shapes the evolution of both pre- and postcopulatory traits, creating competing demands on resource allocation to different reproductive episodes. Traits subject to strong selection exhibit accelerated rates of phenotypic divergence, and examining evolutionary rates may inform us about the relative importance and potential fitness consequences of investing in traits under either pre- or postcopulatory sexual selection.

Meta-analytic evidence that animals rarely avoid inbreeding.

Animals are usually expected to avoid mating with relatives (kin avoidance) as incestuous mating can lead to the expression of inbreeding depression. Yet, theoretical models predict that unbiased mating with regards to kinship should be common, and that under some conditions, the inclusive fitness benefits associated with inbreeding can even lead to a preference for mating with kin. This mismatch between empirical and theoretical expectations generates uncertainty as to the prevalence of inbreeding avoidance in animals.

Male-male behavioral interactions drive social-dominance-mediated differences in ejaculate traits.

Higher social status is expected to result in fitness benefits as it secures access to potential mates. In promiscuous species, male reproductive success is also determined by an individual's ability to compete for fertilization after mating by producing high-quality ejaculates. However, the complex relationship between a male's investment in social status and ejaculates remains unclear.

Butterfly dichromatism primarily evolved via Darwin's, not Wallace's, model.

Sexual dimorphism is typically thought to result from sexual selection for elaborated male traits, as proposed by Darwin. However, natural selection could reduce expression of elaborated traits in females, as proposed by Wallace. Darwin and Wallace debated the origins of dichromatism in birds and butterflies, and although evidence in birds is roughly equal, if not in favor of Wallace's model, butterflies lack a similar scale of study.

How sperm competition shapes the evolution of testes and sperm: a meta-analysis.

Females of many species mate with multiple males, thereby inciting competition among ejaculates from rival males for fertilization. In response to increasing sperm competition, males are predicted to enhance their investment in sperm production. This prediction is so widespread that testes size (correcting for body size) is commonly used as a proxy of sperm competition, even in the absence of any other information about a species' reproductive behaviour.

Sperm competition and fertilization mode in fishes.

Sperm competition is a powerful selective force that has shaped sexual traits throughout animal evolution. Yet, how fertilization mode (i.e.

Repeated evidence that the accelerated evolution of sperm is associated with their fertilization function.

Spermatozoa are the most morphologically diverse cell type, leading to the widespread assumption that they evolve rapidly. However, there is no direct evidence that sperm evolve faster than other male traits. Such a test requires comparing male traits that operate in the same selective environment, ideally produced from the same tissue, yet vary in function.

Contrasting female mate preferences for red coloration in a fish.

Understanding how animals select their mates requires knowing the factors that shape mate preferences. Recent theoretical and empirical considerations suggest that female mating status can influence the degree to which a female engages in mate choice, with virgin females predicted to be less choosy than mated females. In this study, we investigated mate choice in both virgin and mated females in the pygmy halfbeak .

Chemical signals from eggs facilitate cryptic female choice in humans.

Mate choice can continue after mating via chemical communication between the female reproductive system and sperm. While there is a growing appreciation that females can bias sperm use and paternity by exerting cryptic female choice for preferred males, we know surprisingly little about the mechanisms underlying these post-mating choices. In particular, whether chemical signals released from eggs (chemoattractants) allow females to exert cryptic female choice to favour sperm from specific males remains an open question, particularly in species (including humans) where adults exercise pre-mating mate choice.

Male mate choice for large gravid spots in a livebearing fish.

Male mate choice occurs in a wide range of species, and males can increase their reproductive success by distinguishing between females based on their fecundity (e.g., large body size) or their expected sperm competition risk (e.

Acclimation temperature changes spermatozoa flagella length relative to head size in brown trout.

Temperature is a ubiquitous environmental factor affecting physiological processes of ectotherms. Due to the effects of climate change on global air and water temperatures, predicting the impacts of changes in environmental thermal conditions on ecosystems is becoming increasingly important. This is especially crucial for migratory fish, such as the ecologically and economically vital salmonids, because their complex life histories make them particularly vulnerable.

Sexual selection and the evolution of sperm morphology in sharks.

Post-copulatory sexual selection, and sperm competition in particular, is a powerful selective force shaping the evolution of sperm morphology. Although mounting evidence suggests that post-copulatory sexual selection influences the evolution of sperm morphology among species, recent evidence also suggests that sperm competition influences variation in sperm morphology at the intraspecific level. However, contradictory empirical results and limited taxonomic scope have led to difficulty in assessing the generality of sperm morphological responses to variation in the strength of sperm competition.

Predation shapes sperm performance surfaces in guppies.

Sperm velocity is a key determinant of competitive fertilization success in many species. Selection is therefore expected to favour the evolution of faster sperm when the level of sperm competition is high. However, several aspects can determine the direction and strength of selection acting on this key performance trait, including ecological factors that influence both sperm competition and the strength of selection acting on correlated traits that may constrain evolutionary responses in sperm velocity.

Behavioural correlations of the domestication syndrome are decoupled in modern dog breeds.

Domestication is hypothesized to drive correlated responses in animal morphology, physiology and behaviour, a phenomenon known as the domestication syndrome. However, we currently lack quantitative confirmation that suites of behaviours are correlated during domestication. Here we evaluate the strength and direction of behavioural correlations among key prosocial (sociability, playfulness) and reactive (fearfulness, aggression) behaviours implicated in the domestication syndrome in 76,158 dogs representing 78 registered breeds.

Female genitalia can evolve more rapidly and divergently than male genitalia.

Male genitalia exhibit patterns of divergent evolution driven by sexual selection. In contrast, for many taxonomic groups, female genitalia are relatively uniform and their patterns of evolution remain largely unexplored. Here we quantify variation in the shape of female genitalia across onthophagine dung beetles, and use new comparative methods to contrast their rates of divergence with those of male genitalia.