Question

1. Describe situations or environments in which sexual selection is evolutionary advantageous.

2. In various reptiles, temperature determines sex during development. Some scientists suggest that as Earth's climate becomes warmer, sex ratios in these species will be biased and the animals will become even more endagered. Is this concern warranted and why? What might happen to these populations as a result?

Answer 1

1. When a strong directional selection is imposed by the environment sexual reproduction is favored because in asexual reproduction progress under directional selection can not move further without mutation but sexual reproduction does not have any such limitations as changes are inherent in this type of reproduction.

In case of extreme environmental change extinction is possible as variance is less but in population with sexual reproduction mutations increases the variance which help the survival of the population and thus is evolutionary advantageous.