ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2012
Sexual selection favours male parental care, when females can choose.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The costs and benefits of paternal care in fish: a meta-analysis.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2020Pooled it
- Direct benefits of mate choice: a meta-analysis of plumage colour and offspring feeding rates in birds.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2015Pooled it
- Selection Against Hybrids Maintains Genetic Divergence Between Populations of a Coastal Cleaner Fish Translocated Across a Genetic Break.Evolutionary applications · 2026Article
- The Evolution of Same-sex Sexual Behavior: Using Old Theory to Answer New Questions.Integrative and comparative biology · 2026Review
- The evolution of negotiation strategies diversifies parental cooperation.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Reproductive Strategies in Paternal Care and Remarkably Low Paternity Level in a Giant Water Bug.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- The Evolutionary Loss of Paternal Care Is Associated With Shifts in Female Life-History Traits.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Sexual selection and life history interact to influence the evolution of paternal care.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Sex differences in avian parental care patterns vary across the breeding cycle.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Coevolution influences the evolution of filial cannibalism, offspring abandonment and parental care.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
- Sex roles and the evolution of parental care specialization.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
- Sexual selection, phenotypic plasticity and female reproductive output.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2019Review
- Not all sex ratios are equal: the Fisher condition, parental care and sexual selection.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2017Review
- Sperm competition games when males invest in paternal care.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2017Article
- Sexual selection of male parental care in giant water bugs.Royal Society open science · 2016Article
- Male age mediates reproductive investment and response to paternity assurance.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2013Article
- Sex differences in life history drive evolutionary transitions among maternal, paternal, and bi-parental care.Ecology and evolution · 2013Article
- The origin of parental care in relation to male and female life history.Ecology and evolution · 2013Article
- Biparental care in insects: paternal care, life history, and the function of the nest.Journal of insect science (Online) · 2013Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Explaining the evolution of male care has proved difficult. Recent theory predicts that female promiscuity and sexual selection on males inherently disfavour male care. In sharp contrast to these expectations, male-only care is often found in species with high extra-pair paternity and striking variation in mating success, where current theory predicts female-only care. Using a model that examines the coevolution of male care, female care and female choice; I show that inter-sexual selection can drive the evolution of male care when females are able to bias mating or paternity towards parental males. Surprisingly, female choice for parental males allows male care to evolve despite low relatedness between the male and the offspring in his care. These results imply that predicting how sexual selection affects parental care evolution will require further understanding of why females, in many species, either do not prefer or cannot favour males that provide care.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.