Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34520680›Full record

ArticleBiology letters2021

Sexual selection and sexual size dimorphism in animals.

Tim Janicke, Salomé Fromonteil

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Biology letters, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
28citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
12.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 58 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Functional Divergence ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026
    Article
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  13. Review
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  15. Evolution of sex-biased genes inEcology and evolution · 2024
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Fossil evidence sheds light on sexual selection during the early evolution of birds.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.

Tim JanickeCentre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive, UMR 5175 CNRS, Université de Montpellier, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Montpellier, France.ORCID 0000-0002-1453-6813
Salomé FromonteilCentre d'Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive, UMR 5175 CNRS, Université de Montpellier, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Montpellier, France.ORCID 0000-0002-3064-6019
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · FR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Sexual selection is often considered as a critical evolutionary force promoting sexual size dimorphism (SSD) in animals. However, empirical evidence for a positive relationship between sexual selection on males and male-biased SSD received mixed support depending on the studied taxonomic group and on the method used to quantify sexual selection. Here, we present a meta-analytic approach accounting for phylogenetic non-independence to test how standardized metrics of the opportunity and strength of pre-copulatory sexual selection relate to SSD across a broad range of animal taxa comprising up to 95 effect sizes from 59 species. We found that SSD based on length measurements was correlated with the sex difference in the opportunity for sexual selection but showed a weak and statistically non-significant relationship with the sex difference in the Bateman gradient. These findings suggest that pre-copulatory sexual selection plays a limited role for the evolution of SSD in a broad phylogenetic context.

Indexed as

Sex CharacteristicsSexual SelectionAnimalsBody SizeFemaleMalePhylogenyBateman gradientbody sizebody weightopportunity for selectionsexual selectionsexual size dimorphism

Identifiers

PMID34520680
PMCPMC8440037
OpenAlexW3201541341

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.