Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part I Reproductive skew theory
- Part II Testing assumptions and predictions of skew models
- 3 Reproductive skew in female-dominated mammalian societies
- 4 The effects of heterogeneous regimes on reproductive skew in eutherian mammals
- 5 Social skew as a measure of the costs and benefits of group living in marmots
- 6 Explaining variation in reproductive skew among male langurs: effects of future mating prospects and ecological factors
- 7 The causes and consequences of reproductive skew in male primates
- 8 Sociality and reproductive skew in horses and zebras
- 9 Reproductive skew in avian societies
- 10 Reproductive skew in cooperative fish groups: virtue and limitations of alternative modeling approaches
- 11 Reproductive skew in primitively eusocial wasps: how useful are current models?
- Part III Resolving reproductive conflicts: behavioral and physiological mechanisms
- Part IV Future directions
- Taxonomic index
- Subject index
7 - The causes and consequences of reproductive skew in male primates
from Part II - Testing assumptions and predictions of skew models
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- Part I Reproductive skew theory
- Part II Testing assumptions and predictions of skew models
- 3 Reproductive skew in female-dominated mammalian societies
- 4 The effects of heterogeneous regimes on reproductive skew in eutherian mammals
- 5 Social skew as a measure of the costs and benefits of group living in marmots
- 6 Explaining variation in reproductive skew among male langurs: effects of future mating prospects and ecological factors
- 7 The causes and consequences of reproductive skew in male primates
- 8 Sociality and reproductive skew in horses and zebras
- 9 Reproductive skew in avian societies
- 10 Reproductive skew in cooperative fish groups: virtue and limitations of alternative modeling approaches
- 11 Reproductive skew in primitively eusocial wasps: how useful are current models?
- Part III Resolving reproductive conflicts: behavioral and physiological mechanisms
- Part IV Future directions
- Taxonomic index
- Subject index
Summary
Summary
This chapter discusses the underlying causes and consequences of reproductive skew in male primates. Although our understanding of the causes of skew is still in its infancy, empirical studies thus far support the compromise framework (e.g. tug-of-war model) rather than the concession model. Our assessment of the different models also suggests that the priority-of-access (POA) model makes predictions that are very similar to the compromise framework, but that skew models expand significantly on the POA model by including additional factors that relate to patterns of reproduction within groups. Our phylogenetic comparative analyses on mating skew in male primates also provide supporting evidence for the tug-of-war model, as mating skew decreased as the number of males increased, suggesting that monopolization of females becomes more difficult when there are more rivals (Emlen & Oring 1977). However, there have been no studies that represent strong tests of skew models, possibly because of difficulties in estimating parameters that are necessary for quantitative analyses. Future research could help to clarify the causes of skew, including development of mathematical models that are more suitable to primate societies, empirical studies based on paternity tests, and comparative approaches to investigate interspecific patterns of skew in other biological systems.
Previous studies commonly investigated the causes of skew, but fewer have considered the consequences of skew on other physiological and social parameters such as within-group relatedness and sexually transmitted diseases. Of these, it appears that effects on within-group relatedness could have the largest effects on patterns of primate sociality.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Reproductive Skew in VertebratesProximate and Ultimate Causes, pp. 165 - 195Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009
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