ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2019
Grey zones of sexual selection: why is finding a modern definition so hard?
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Selection Against Hybrids Maintains Genetic Divergence Between Populations of a Coastal Cleaner Fish Translocated Across a Genetic Break.Evolutionary applications · 2026Article
- Navigating the Semantic Labyrinth of "Sex" in the Study of Reproductive Trait Evolution.Integrative and comparative biology · 2026Article
- Sex on the Beach: Sexual Size Dimorphism Among Aquatic Bugs (Nepomorpha) Inhabiting Different Habitats.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Natural Variation in Sexual Traits and Gene Expression between Selfing and Outcrossing Arabidopsis lyrata Suggests Sexual Selection at Work.Plant & cell physiology · 2025Article
- Article
- Male song structure predicts offspring recruitment to the breeding population in a migratory bird.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2024Article
- Mating competition among females: testing the distinction between natural and sexual selection in an insect.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Re-imagining Reproduction: The Queer Possibilities of Plants.Integrative and comparative biology · 2023Article
- On the function of flower number: disentangling fertility from pollinator-mediated selection.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- The history of sexual selection research provides insights as to why females are still understudied.Nature communications · 2022Review
- Direct and indirect selection on mate choice during pollen competition: Effects of male and female sexual traits on offspring performance following two-donor crosses.Journal of evolutionary biology · 2020Article
- The definition of sexual selection.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral EcologyReview
- The definition of sexual selection: a response to comments on Shuker and Kvarnemo.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral EcologyArticle
- Female ornaments: is red skin color attractive to males and related to condition in rhesus macaques?Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral EcologyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Sexual selection has long been acknowledged as an important evolutionary force, capable of shaping phenotypes ranging from fascinating and unusual displays to cryptic traits whose function is only uncovered by careful study. Yet, despite decades of research, reaching a consensus definition of the term 'sexual selection' has proved difficult. Here we explore why arriving at a unifying definition of sexual selection is so hard. While some researchers have argued about whether sexual selection should be considered a form of natural selection, we concentrate on where the line between sexual selection and other forms of selection falls. We focus on identifying the 'grey zones' of sexual selection by illustrating cases in which application of the term 'sexual selection' would be considered controversial or ambiguous. We believe that clarifying why sexual selection is so difficult to define is an essential first step forward towards greater clarity, and if possible towards reaching a consensus definition. We suggest that a more nuanced perspective may be necessary, particularly one that specifies for cases of 'sexual selection' why the term is used or whether they fall into a grey zone.
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.