Impact of pre-copulatory sexual cannibalism on genetic diversity and efficacy of selection.

Factors that increase reproductive variance among individuals act to reduce effective population size (Ne), which accelerates the loss of genetic diversity and decreases the efficacy of purifying selection. These factors include sexual cannibalism, offspring investment and mating system. Pre-copulatory sexual cannibalism, where the female consumes the male prior to mating, exacerbates this effect.

Differential allocation in a gift-giving spider: males adjust their reproductive investment in response to female condition.

Background: When males are selective, they can either reject low-quality females or adjust their reproductive investment in response to traits that indicate female quality (e.g., body size or condition).