A meta-analysis on alternative mating tactics: when the main and the alternative yield similar reproductive success.

In many species, individuals of the same sex exhibit different mating behaviours, a phenomenon known as alternative mating tactics (AMTs). These AMTs may occur in species in which morphology prevents individuals from adopting different tactics (fixed expression of AMTs) as well as in species in which individuals can alternate between them (flexible expression of AMTs). Regardless of the way different mating tactics are expressed, a key point to understanding the selective forces driving AMT evolution relies on identifying differences in the reproductive success between tactics.

No size or density effect on alternative mate-locating tactics in the tropical damselfly Hetaerina rosea males (Odonata: Calopterygidae).

Males of the damselfly Hetaerina rosea may defend mating sites along river margins (resident males) or, alternatively, wander among different areas presumably searching for mates (nonterritorial males). Although the occurrence of territorial and nonterritorial males of H. rosea is very common in Brazil, studies examining which factors may be responsible for the adoption of alternative mate-locating tactics in this species are inexistent.