Choosing to persist: sexual selection in the wild. This project aims to investigate the role of sexual selection in maintaining healthy wild populations. The prevailing story of sexual selection, in which the sexes either compete for or choose the other sex, has been of extravagant ornaments and displays that drive species to extinction. However, an opposing story has emerged, with elaborate ornaments reflecting a healthy genome and sexual selection instead sweeping away damaging genetic mater ....Choosing to persist: sexual selection in the wild. This project aims to investigate the role of sexual selection in maintaining healthy wild populations. The prevailing story of sexual selection, in which the sexes either compete for or choose the other sex, has been of extravagant ornaments and displays that drive species to extinction. However, an opposing story has emerged, with elaborate ornaments reflecting a healthy genome and sexual selection instead sweeping away damaging genetic material. This project expects to generate new knowledge on the potential for sexual selection to remove harmful mutations in the wild. Expected outcomes include determining if sexual selection can help prevent extinction in wild populations, with direct benefits for conservation programs.Read moreRead less
Male-male competition vs female choice: same-same or something different? This project aims to increase our understanding of the phenotypic, genetic and genomic outcomes of evolution, by both enhancing, and reversing, sexual selection in laboratory fruit flies. In doing so, this project expects to separate the entangled effects of female choice and male competition, generating new knowledge in evolutionary ecology and genetics. Expected outcomes of this project include identifying the separate m ....Male-male competition vs female choice: same-same or something different? This project aims to increase our understanding of the phenotypic, genetic and genomic outcomes of evolution, by both enhancing, and reversing, sexual selection in laboratory fruit flies. In doing so, this project expects to separate the entangled effects of female choice and male competition, generating new knowledge in evolutionary ecology and genetics. Expected outcomes of this project include identifying the separate molecular effects on the genome of selection through male competition and female choice. This should provide significant benefits in understanding the role of different forms of sexual selection in removing mutations and maintaining population fitness: vital factors in securing the long term viability of vulnerable species.Read moreRead less