Females can benefit from mate choice for male traits (eg sexual ornaments or body
condition) that reliably signal the effect that mating will have on mean offspring fitness …

Sperm competition is widespread among animal taxa and considered a major force in sperm
evolution. Recent comparative studies have indicated that sperm competition selects for …

Increased variance in the reproductive success of males relative to females favors mothers
that optimally allocate sons and daughters to maximize their fitness return. In altricial …

Postcopulatory sexual selection may select for male primary sexual characteristics like
sperm morphology and sperm motility, through sperm competition or cryptic female choice …

Sex-allocation theory predicts that females should preferentially produce offspring of the sex
with greater fitness potential. In socially monogamous animal species, extra-pair mating …

Identifying factors that influence the chances of fledglings becoming local recruits can inform
us about the ecology of population dynamics and factors influencing parental fitness. We …

Postcopulatory sexual selection (PCSS) in internally fertilizing vertebrates is a topic of great
interest, yet relatively little is known about the characteristics of sperm and ejaculates that …

Livestock grazing can affect habitat structure and availability of arthropod prey for grassland
birds, and ultimately determines habitat quality. The habitat quality may affect breeding …

Impacts of agriculture practices are documented at every ecosystem level from landscape
structure to biodiversity. Birds are especially affected by agricultural modifications as shown …

In birds, the female is responsible for determining the sexes of her offspring, and she
accomplishes this by donating either a W or a Z chromosome to the egg. There is now a …