Sexual Conflict
Sexual conflict refers to the conflicting goals of breeding males and females. It describes the diverging interests of males and females in optimizing their fitness. From the viewpoint of any one partner, the best outcome would be for the partner's mate to care for the young, thus freeing up his or her own resources (e.g., time and energy) that s/he - but typically he - can invest in further sex that may create additional offspring. In polygynous mating systems, sexual conflict means the optimization of male reproductive success by having mated with multiple females, even though the reproductive success of a polygynously mated female is thereby reduced.Such can be the case for the Guianan Cock-of-the-rocks, whose male members spend a majority of their time and energy into maintaining their plumage and attempting to seek the most matings. Females on the other hand, spend their time building and maintaining their nest where they will lay their eggs and raise the young.
Read more about this topic: Sexy Son Hypothesis
Famous quotes containing the word conflict:
“Every man is in a state of conflict, owing to his attempt to reconcile himself and his relationship with life to his conception of harmony. This conflict makes his soul a battlefield, where the forces that wish this reconciliation fight those that do not and reject the alternative solutions they offer. Works of art are attempts to fight out this conflict in the imaginative world.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)