THE ROCK-PAPER-SCISSORS GAME AND THE EVOLUTION OF ALTERNATIVE MALE STRATEGIES

MANY species exhibit colour polymorphisms associated with alternative male reproductive strategies, including territorial males and 'sneaker males' that behave and look like females(1-3). The prevalence of mult iple morphs is a challenge to evolutionary theory because a single str ategy should prevail unless morphs have exactly equal fitness(4,5) or a fitness advantage when rare(6,7). We report here the application of an evolutionary stable strategy model to a three-morph mating system i n the side-blotched lizard. Using parameter estimates from field data, the model predicted oscillations in morph frequency, and the frequenc ies of the three male morphs were found to oscillate over a six-year p eriod in the field. The fitnesses of each morph relative to other morp hs were non-transitive in that each morph could invade another morph w hen rare, but was itself invadable by another morph when common. Conco rdance between frequency-dependent selection and the among-year change s in morph fitnesses suggest that male interactions drive a dynamic 'r ock-paper-scissors' game(7).