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| Male Mating Behavior Can Drive Species Extinction |
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| SciMed - Biology | |||
| TS-Si News Service | |||
| Tuesday, 17 May 2011 09:00 | |||
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Zürich, Switzerland. Aggressive male mating behavior might be a successful reproductive strategy for a specific individual but it can drive an entire species to extinction.
Evolutionary biologists have long debated whether the behavior of the individual is able to influence processes on a population or species level. Research has now shown that aggressive male sexual behavior not only harms the female, but can also cause entire populations to die out. The possibility of selection at species level has continued to be controversial. For their study, the scientists concentrated on the extreme sexual conflict of seed beetles, which are considered as pests in agriculture. Male seed beetles have barbed penises which make it impossible for the female to shake off an unwelcome mate. The aggressive males have a higher reproductive rate as they are more successful than less aggressive males; however, they harm the female during the mating process. An international research team headed by Daniel Rankin from the University of Zürich has demonstrated their conclusions in a mathematical model that is published and discussed in The American Naturalist.The researchers have now shown that the greater mating success of aggressive males can result in the males of a species becoming more aggressive in general. The aggression spiral has dramatic consequences for the population and species: More females are harmed during mating and die from their injuries. This means the females become scarcer as a resource for the males and the species eventually dies out. Individual interests and the interests of the population contrast greatly in the present case. In economics, such clashes of individual and group interests are referred to as the tragedy of the commons. The principle refers to the overexploitation of collective resources and serves, among other things, to describe human dilemmas related to environmental pollution and global warming. In nature, the tragedy of the commons is limited as aggressive behavior is costly for the individual. This also explains why such severe sexual conflicts as in the case of the seed beetle cannot be observed everywhere. Species with too high an injury rate during reproduction have driven themselves to extinction in the course of  evolution. In the case studied, the female’s tactical response is to steer clear of aggressive males.“In nature, there are many examples of tragedies of the commons,” says Daniel Rankin, so understanding how nature solves the tragedy of the commons could also inspire solutions to human problems. FundingThe research was made possible by funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).
CitationSexual conflict and the tragedy of the commons. Daniel J. Rankin, Ulf Dieckmann, Hanna Kokko. In: The American Naturalist 2011; 177. ePub ahead of print.
Abstract It is widely understood that the costs and benefits of mating can affect the fecundity and survival of individuals. Sexual conflict may have profound consequences for populations as a result of the negative effects it causes males and females to have on one another’s fitness. Here we present a model describing the evolution of sexual conflict, in which males inflict a direct cost on female fitness. We show that these costs can drive the entire population to extinction. To males, females are an essential but finite resource over which they have to compete. Population extinction owing to sexual conflict can therefore be seen as an evolutionary tragedy of the commons. Our model shows that a positive feedback between harassment and the operational sex ratio is responsible for the demise of females and, thus, for population extinction. We further show that the evolution of female resistance to counter harassment can prevent a tragedy of the commons. Our findings not only demonstrate that sexual conflict can drive a population to extinction but also highlight how simple mechanisms, such as harassment costs to males and females and the coevolution between harassment and resistance, can help avert a tragedy of the commons caused by sexual conflict.
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| Last Updated on Tuesday, 17 May 2011 08:27 |
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