Research Catalog

Title

Female control : sexual selection by cryptic female choice / William G. Eberhard.

Author

Eberhard, William G.

Publication

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c1996.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xiv, 501 p. : ill., map; 24 cm.

Summary

A growing body of evidence has begun to reveal flaws in the traditional assumption of female passivity and lack of discrimination after copulation has begun. William Eberhard has compiled an impressive array of research on the ability of females to shape the outcome of mating. He describes studies of many different cryptic mechanisms by which a female can accept a male for copulation but nevertheless reject him as a father. Evidence from various fields indicates that such selectivity by females may be the norm rather than the exception. Because most postcopulatory competition among males for paternity is played out within the bodies of females, female behavior, morphology, and physiology probably often influence male success in these contests, Eberhard draws examples from a diversity of organisms, ranging from ctenophores to scorpions, nematodes to frogs, and crickets to humans. Cryptic female choice establishes a new bridge between sexual selection theory and reproductive physiology, in particular the physiological effects of male seminal products on female reproductive processes, such as sperm transport, oviposition, and remating. Eberhard interweaves his review of previous studies with speculation on the consequences of this theoretical development, and indicates promising new directions for future research.

Series Statement

Monographs in behavior and ecology

Uniform Title

Monographs in behavior and ecology.

Subject

• Reproduction > Regulation
• Reproduction > physiology
• Selection, Genetic
• Sexual Behavior, Animal
• Sexual selection in animals

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [423]-487) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

1. What Is Cryptic Female Choice? -- 2. Selection on Cryptic Female Choice -- 3. Principal Mechanisms of Cryptic Female Choice -- 4. Other Mechanisms of Cryptic Female Choice -- 5. Evidence That Cryptic Female Choice is Widespread, I: Copulatory Courtship and Related Phenomena -- 6. Evidence That Cryptic Female Choice Is Widespread, II: Effects of Male Sexual Products on Females -- 7. Evidence That Cryptic Female Choice Is Widespread, III: Male and Female Morphology -- 8. Related Topics -- 9. Evidence Ruling Out Cryptic Female Choice: Is It Common? -- 10. Summary and Conclusions.

ISBN

• 0691010854 (alk. paper)
• 0691010846 (pbk. : alk. paper)

LCCN

^^^95025639^

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library