Summary 1 Contests may involve injurious fighting, other types of direct physical aggression
and communication. They occur over ownership access to mates and other resources that …

The conundrum of why subordinate individuals assist dominants at the expense of their own
direct reproduction has received much theoretical and empirical attention over the last 50 …

Research into the lives of animals in their natural environments has revealed a rich tapestry
of complex social relationships and previously unsuspected social and mating systems. The …

Among vertebrates, fish show by far the greatest variability of alternative reproductive tactics
(ARTs). Usually, males attempting to monopolize access to females or fertilizations are …

The approaches of the social and the biological sciences to the study of behavior have been
seen as almost mutually exclusive. The nature versus nurture debate has been almost …

The study of sex differences has produced major insights into the organization of animal
phenotypes and the regulatory mechanisms generating phenotypic variation from similar …

Van Valen (1973) characterized evolution as the control of development by ecology. Sex
determination in fishes provides some clear examples of this “control” in operation. Teleost …

Phenotypic plasticity represents an elegant adaptive response of individuals to a change in
their environment. Bluehead wrasses (Thalassoma bifasciatum) exhibit astonishing sexual …

Discrete variation in reproductive behavior and physiology is observed in diverse taxa.
Although it is known that most within‐sex alternative reproductive tactics arise as a …

The occurrence of intra-sexual variation in reproduction is a widespread phenomenon in
teleosts. One such form of variation consists in the occurrence of alternative male types …