MICROHABITAT VARIATION AND SEXUAL SELECTION CAN MAINTAIN MALE COLOR POLYMORPHISMS

• Published in: Evolution Vol. 61; no. 11; pp. 2504 - 2515
• Main Authors: Chunco, Amanda J, McKinnon, Jeffrey S, Servedio, Maria R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, USA Blackwell Publishing Inc 01.11.2007; Society for the Study of Evolution; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Animal behavior; Animal cognition; Animals; Biological variation; Color; Ecological competition; Ecosystem; Evolution; Female; female choice; habitat heterogeneity; Habitat preferences; Habitat selection; Habitats; Male; Mating behavior; Mating Preference, Animal - physiology; Microhabitats; Models, Biological; Natural selection; Original s; Pigments, Biological; Polymorphism, Genetic; predation; Predators; Predatory Behavior; Selection, Genetic; Sexual selection; sympatric speciation

Male color polymorphism may be an important precursor to sympatric speciation by sexual selection, but the processes maintaining such polymorphisms are not well understood. Here, we develop a formal model of the hypothesis that male color polymorphisms may be maintained by variation in the sensory e...