Sexual selection

A form of natural selection in which differences in mating or fertilization success favor traits that improve access to mates or reproductive success.

Intrasexual selection: Sexual selection caused by competition among members of one sex for access to mates. Competition among same-sex rivals can favor weapons, size, or dominance.
Natural selection: A change in inherited traits across generations caused by differences in survival or reproduction. Sexual selection is a component of natural selection focused on reproductive differences.
Peacock's tail: The elaborate train of male peafowl, displayed during courtship and favored partly through mate choice. Its conspicuous cost makes it a canonical case of ornamentation through mate choice.
Charles Darwin: The English naturalist who developed the theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin distinguished mate-driven advantages from advantages in survival in his 1871 account.
Intersexual selection: Sexual selection caused by mate choice, often through preferences expressed by one sex for traits in the other. Mate preferences can favor ornaments, displays, or courtship behaviors.
Fitness (biology): An organism's contribution of viable offspring to future generations relative to others in its population. Mating advantages matter evolutionarily only when they increase reproductive contribution.
Bird-of-paradise courtship: The elaborate displays and plumage used by male birds-of-paradise during courtship. Their courtship arenas show how female preferences can shape extreme displays.
The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex: Charles Darwin's 1871 book on human evolution, sexual selection, and differences between the sexes. This book introduced sexual selection as a distinct evolutionary explanation.
Sexual dimorphism: A difference in average appearance or anatomy between males and females of a species. Different mating pressures can produce conspicuous sex-specific traits.
Heritability: The proportion of variation in a trait within a population associated with genetic differences. Preferences and traits can evolve only when relevant variation is heritable.

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