Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 1, 2026

High Throughput Assay to Examine Egg-Laying Preferences of Individual Drosophila melanogaster
Published on: March 24, 2016
UNIFYING GENETIC MODELS FOR THE EVOLUTION OF FEMALE CHOICE
1Department of Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544.
Abstract:
A best-of-N rule of female mating preferences can give rise to lines of unstable equilibria in a two-locus haploid model of sexual selection. Under the best-of-N rule, which corresponds to choice at a lek, male fitnesses can exhibit a form of positive frequency-dependence that is not seen under fixed-relative-preference rules (Kirkpatrick, 1982). This positive frequency-dependence can be strongly destabilizing. Lande's (1981) criterion for the stability of the equilibria in quantitative-genetic models of sexual selection applies exactly and in general to the related family of simple population-genetic models. This offers some insight into the workings of these models and greatly simplifies their analysis.
Related Concept Videos
Natural Selection and Mating Preferences
Females, due to their biological roles in conception, pregnancy, and nursing,...
Mate Choice
Criticisms of the Evolutionary Perspective
Evolutionary psychology provides one explanation for these findings, suggesting...
Genetics of Speciation
Mutation, Gene Flow, and Genetic Drift
Evolutionary Psychology

