The ecology and evolution of promiscuity

Reproduction by two sexes is an evolutionary success story. But why is there so much variation in mating systems and sex roles? One such enigma is why socially monogamous birds show so large variation in the frequency of extrapair paternity. Despite three decades of molecular paternity studies across hundreds of species, the puzzle appears to be largely unresolved. In this talk, I make a subjective, personal view of why the field has not made more progress, and I suggest a way forward.  

I am an evolutionary biologist with a fascination for birds and their reproductive behavior. Over the years, I have been particularly interested in the variation in social and sexual mating systems in birds. More recently, my research has been more focused on sperm biology in passerine birds and their large variation in sperm size, which shows strong connections to the variation in sexual mating systems. 

[Host: Rui Faria and Ricardo Lopes, Evolutionary Genetics and Genomics - EVOLGEN]