Patricia Adair Gowaty¹ & Herbert Hoi²

Gowaty, P.A. & Hoi, H. 1999. Sexual conflict and variation in reproductive behaviour. In: Adams, N.J. & Slotow, R.H. (eds) Proc. 22 Int. Ornithol. Congr., Durban: 2607. Johannesburg: BirdLife South Africa.

Sexual conflict occurs when reproductive interests of the sexes differ. To test predictions of sexual conflict researchers usually first must observe noncongruent reproductive interests of the sexes. However, sexual conflict is an inevitable outcome of selection on choosy females, because rejected males will experience selection "to change females' minds" leading to selection on females to resist males' manipulations. Novel predictions from this insight include: Females are enthusiastic or coy about copulation with particular males on first meeting, and conflict between the sexes in socially monogamous species is as frequent as co-operation. Symposium papers discuss data from socially monogamous species. They describe selective dynamics occurring when behaviour of one sex creates ecological problems the other sex must solve to successfully reproduce. Several papers focus on variation in females that allow some females but not others to be fertilised by preferred gametic partners even when socially paired with nonpreferred males; these authors ask how females solve the selective problem created for them by male attempts to manipulate their reproductive decisions. Others focus on selective dynamics of male parental care, or how pair males solve the selective problem created for them when females are fertilised by extra-pair males.