Author: R.R. Baker Publisher: Springer ISBN: 0412454300 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 354
Book Description
Behavioural ecologists and evolutionary biologists have long been interested in the biological implications of sperm from different males competing for fertilization of the egg in the female tract. This book discusses these implications for human sexual behaviour and human infertility problems.
Author: Nicholas Pound Publisher: Taylor & Francis ISBN: 9780387280363 Category : Health & Fitness Languages : en Pages : 322
Book Description
This volume presents the intricate ways in which sperm compete to fertilize eggs and how this has prompted reinterpretations of breeding behavior from a biological perspective. Sperm Competition in Humans: Classic and Contemporary Readings provides a theoretical framework for the study of sperm competition and also discusses the roles of females and the relationships between paternal care in sperm competition. The chapters focus on everything from evolutionary biology to taxonomic development.
Author: Robert L. Smith Publisher: Elsevier ISBN: 032314313X Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 710
Book Description
Sperm Competition and the Evolution of Animal Mating Systems describes the role of sperm competition in selection on a range of attributes from gamete morphology to species mating systems. This book is organized into 19 chapters and begins with the conceptualization of sperm competition as a subset of sexual selection and its implications for the insects. The following chapter describes the relationship between multiple mating and female fitness, with an emphasis on determining the conditions under which selection on females is likely to counteract selection on males for avoiding sperm competition. Other chapters consider the female perspective on sperm competition; the evolutionary causation at the level of the individual male gamete; and the correlation of high paternal investment and sperm precedence in the insects. The remaining chapters are arranged phylogenetically and explore the sperm competition in diverse animal taxa, such as the Drosophila, Lepidoptera, spiders, amphibians, and reptiles. These chapters also cover the evolution of direct versus indirect sperm transfer among the arachnids or the problem for kinship theory presented by multiple mating and sperm competition in the Hymenoptera. This book further discusses the remarkable potential for sperm competition among certain temperate bat species whose females store sperm through winter hibernation and the mixed strategies and male-caused female genital trauma as possible sperm competition adaptations in poeciliid fishes. The concluding chapter examines the predictions concerning testes size and mating systems in the primates and the possible role of sperm competition in human selection. This book is of great value to reproductive biologists and researchers.
Author: Todd K. Shackelford Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 0387280391 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 286
Book Description
In species with internal fertilization, sperm competition occurs when the sperm of two or more males simultaneously occupy the reproductive tract of a female and compete to fertilize an egg (Parker, 1970). A large body of empirical research has demonstrated that, as predicted by sperm competition theory, males and females in many species possess anatomical, behavioral, and physiological adaptations that have evolved to deal with the adaptive challenges associated with sperm competition. Moreover, in recent years, evolutionary biologists and psychologists have begun to examine the extent to which sperm competition may have been an important selective pressure during human evolution. Some research has suggested that male humans, like males of many bird, insect, and rodent species, might be able to adjust the number of sperm they inseminate according to the risk of sperm competition. Other research has examined whether such responses might be accompanied by psychological changes that motivate human males to pursue copulations when the risk of sperm competition is high. Furthermore, there is research suggesting that aspects of human penile anatomy might function to enhance success in sperm competition. Much of this work has been controversial; some of the findings have been disputed and others have been greeted with skepticism. However, the idea that some aspects of human psychology and behavior might best be understood as adaptations to sperm competition remains intriguing and, in certain cases, very persuasive.
Author: Tim Birkhead Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 9780674006669 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 300
Book Description
Birkhead reveals a world in which males and females vie with each other as they strive to maximize their reproductive success. Color illustrations.
Author: Robin Baker Publisher: eBook Partnership ISBN: 8461686500 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 853
Book Description
Since the 1970s, behavioural ecologists and evolutionary biologists have been fascinated by the biological implications of sperm from different males competing for fertilization of the egg in the female reproductive tract. But until Human Sperm Competition there had never been a discussion of the phenomenon for the human species in book form, despite its relevance for a full understanding of human reproduction.The book is a pioneering analysis of the evolutionary biology of human sexuality, proposing that all aspects have been shaped by the phenomenon of sperm competition. Written 20 years ago in 1993-94, the print edition was published in 1995. Despite its age that book's contents are as relevant now as they were two decades ago. Perhaps even more so, because since Baker and Bellis' demonstration that human sperm competition could actually be studied in a variety of ways a number of research groups have taken up the challenge where they left off. Most of these groups have obtained results that build firmly upon Baker and Bellis' original work. A few others created important dialogues. None though have destroyed any crucial part of the foundation first laid down in that 1995 book. But the main way in which Human Sperm Competition remains relevant to this day is that for various reasons - some cultural, some procedural, and yet others due to sheer opportunity - Baker and Bellis were able to do a number of experiments that others since have not had the opportunity to repeat. And the results of those unique experiments were presented in Human Sperm Competition and nowhere else.In the first half of the book the authors explore the role of sperm competition in the evolution of human sexual characteristics, considering for example the architecture of the female reproductive tract, the reasons for male and female infidelity and the possible biological reasons for homosexuality, masturbation and orgasm.In the second half, the mechanism of sperm competition is evaluated in detail, together with the evidence for and the implications of the authors' own Kamikaze Sperm Hypothesis. Human Sperm Competition sets out the thesis that adopting an evolutionary approach to human reproduction exposes the subtle and sophisticated ways in which human sexual anatomy, physiology and behaviour are designed to interact. As a species, understanding this sexual legacy helps explain how we reproduce today and why problems with fertility arise.Over the years, Human Sperm Competition has become a classic in the study of human sexual biology - but although the original hardback is still in print rising costs plus perhaps its classic status have priced it beyond those students who might most wish to read its contents. This digital edition of the original 1995 publication, but at a student-friendly price, now solves this problem.
Author: Robin Baker Publisher: Hachette UK ISBN: 1541675533 Category : Psychology Languages : en Pages : 528
Book Description
This classic work on the rules of sex -- updated for a new generation -- is still as provocative as the day it was published, providing simple explanations for any and all questions about what happens in the bedroom. Sex isn't as complicated as we make it. In Sperm Wars, evolutionary biologist Robin Baker argues that every question about human sexuality can be explained by one simple thing: sperm warfare. In the interest of promoting competition between sperm to fertilize the same egg, evolution has built men to conquer and monopolize women while women are built to seek the best genetic input on offer from potential sexual partners. Baker reveals, through a series of provocative fictional scene, the far-reaching implications of sperm competition. 10% of children are not fathered by their "fathers;" over 99% of a man's sperm exists simply to fight off all other men's sperm; and a woman is far more likely to conceive through a casual fling than through sex with her regular partner. From infidelity, to homosexuality, to the female orgasm, Sperm Wars turns on every light in the bedroom. Now with new material reflecting the latest research on sperm warfare, this milestone of popular science will still surprise, entertain, and even shock.
Author: Tim R. Birkhead Publisher: Academic Press ISBN: 9780080919874 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 674
Book Description
Sperm Biology represents the first analysis of the evolutionary significance of sperm phenotypes and derived sperm traits and the possible selection pressures responsible for sperm-egg coevolution. An understanding of sperm evolution is fast developing and promises to shed light on many topics from basic reproductive biology to the evolutionary process itself as well as the sperm proteome, the sperm genome and the quantitative genetics of sperm. The Editors have identified 15 topics of current interest and biological significance to cover all aspects of this bizarre, fascinating and important subject. It comprises the most comprehensive and up-to-date review of the evolution of sperm and pointers for future research, written by experts in both sperm biology and evolutionary biology. The combination of evolution and sperm is a potent mix, and this is the definitive account. The first review survey of this emerging field Written by experts from a broad array of disciplines from the physiological and biomedical to the ecological and evolutionary Sheds light on the intricacies of reproduction and the coevolution of sperm, egg and reproductive behavior
Author: Alan F. Dixson Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1108699499 Category : Medical Languages : en Pages : 405
Book Description
There are more than 6000 species belonging to twenty-seven orders in the Class Mammalia. Comparative studies of this diverse and magnificent array of extant species provide valuable opportunities to formulate and test hypotheses concerning the evolution of reproduction. This is the first book to explore, in depth and breadth, the complex interrelationships that exist between patterns of mating behaviour and the evolution of mammalian reproductive anatomy and physiology. It focuses upon the role that copulatory and post-copulatory sexual selection have played during the evolution of the monotremes, marsupials and placental mammals, and examines the effects of sperm competition and cryptic female choice upon coevolution of the genitalia in the two sexes. In addition, due weight is also given to discussions of the modes of life of mammals, and to the roles played by natural selection and phylogeny in determining their reproductive traits.
Author: Steven M. Platek Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1139458043 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 234
Book Description
Although commonly believed that males are more promiscuous than females, new research has revealed that female infidelity is a common occurrence throughout the animal kingdom. Female Infidelity and Paternal Uncertainty is the first book to address how males deal with the consequences of female infidelity and the strategies they have evolved to try to avoid the possibility of raising an offspring they unknowingly did not sire. Each chapter deals with a specific evolved strategy developed to aid males in either limiting opportunities for their mate to be unfaithful or to 'correct' the by-products of infidelity should it occur. With sections including mate guarding, intra-vaginal tactics and paternity assessment, this book will appeal to researchers and graduate students in behavioral biology, evolutionary psychology, human sexuality, anthropology, sociology, reproductive health and medicine.
Author: R.R. Baker
Author: Nicholas Pound
Author: Robert L. Smith
Author: Todd K. Shackelford
Author: Tim Birkhead
Author: Robin Baker
Author: Robin Baker
Author: Tim R. Birkhead
Author: Alan F. Dixson
Author: Steven M. Platek