Differential allocation: tests, mechanisms and implications

Differential allocation occurs when reproductive investment is influenced b y mate attractiveness. Recently, wide-ranging empirical support for differe ntial allocation has been obtained. These data suggest that mates can affec t the payoffs from reproduction, thus making sacrifices of reproductive val ue worthwhile when breeding with an attractive mate. As an example of an ad aptive parental effect, the existence of differential allocation has some i nteresting implications for empirical studies of sexual selection and for p redicting evolutionary responses to selection.