full text - Caspar Bgsu - Bowling Green State University

2
Evolutionary Aspects of
Aggression: The Importance of
Sexual Selection
Patrik Lindenfors* ,† and Birgitta S. Tullberg*
*Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
† Centre for the Study of Cultural Evolution, Stockholm University, Stockholm,
Sweden
I. Introduction
II. Sexual Selection
III. Mating Systems
IV. When to Fight and When to Flee
V. Case Studies: Sexual Dimorphism
VI. Humans and the Mammalian Pattern
Acknowledgment
References
ABSTRACT
Aggressive behaviors in animals, for example, threat, attack, and defense, are
commonly related to competition over resources, competition over mating
opportunities, or fights for survival. In this chapter, we focus on aggressive
competition over mating opportunities, since this competition explains much
of the distribution of weaponry and large body size, but also because this type of
competition sheds light on the sex skew in the use of violence in mammals,
including humans. Darwin (1871) termed this type of natural selection, where
differences in reproductive success are caused by competition over mates, sexual
selection. Not all species have a pronounced competition over mates, however.
Instead, this aspect of sociality is ultimately determined by ecological factors.
Advances in Genetics, Vol. 75 0065-2660/11 $35.00
Copyright 2011, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-380858-5.00009-5