La selecció sexual: rere el llegat de Darwin Authors Roberto García-Roa Universitat de València Pau Carazo Universitat de València Keywords: evolution, sexual selection, animal behaviour, sexes. Abstract Much of the knowledge we treasure about evolution, and biology in general, rests on Darwin’s ideas about sexual selection, put forward 150 years ago. In his work The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, Darwin explains two fundamental mechanisms competition for reproduction: to understand intra-sexual competition and mate choice. Today we know that, along with these two mechanisms, the intricate path to reproduction also depends on sperm competition and cryptic mate choice by females. In this text we review what we have learned about these four mechanisms and discuss general aspects of sex roles, the evolutionary battle between the sexes and the general relevance of sexual selection for understanding the natural world. After 150 years of studying sexual selection, we now know that with this idea Darwin not only completed the general outline of his Theory of Natural Selection, but laid the foundations of what has become one of the most complex and stimulating fields in the study of evolution. A vital process for understanding not only the evolution of males and females, but also speciation, the ability of populations to adapt to changing environments, or the evolution of sexual reproduction itself.Keywords: evolution, sexual selection, animal behaviour, sexes. Downloads Download data is not yet available. Author Biography Roberto García-Roa, Universitat de València Downloads PDF (Català) Issue Vol. 71 (2021) Section Articles License The intellectual property of the articles belongs to the respective authors. At the time of submitting the articles to Treballs de la Societat Catalana de Biologia, authors accept the following terms: — Authors assign to the SCB (a subsidiary of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans) the rights of reproduction, public communication (including communication through social networks) and distribution of the articles submitted for publication to Treballs de la Societat Catalana de Biologia, in any form and medium, including digital platforms. The Publications Committee reserves the right to accept or refuse submitted articles and the right to make any editorial changes it deems appropriate. If the suggested changes are accepted by authors, they should re-submit the article with such changes. — Authors answer to the SCB for the authorship and originality of submitted articles. In other words, authors assure that submitted articles do not contain fragments of works by other authors or fragments of their own previously published works; that the content of articles is original, and that the copyright of third parties is not infringed upon. Authors accept this responsibility and undertake to hold harmless the SCB for any loss or damage resulting from non-compliance with this obligation. Furthermore, they should include a statement in articles submitted to the journal regarding their responsibility for the content of the articles. — Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for the reproduction of all graphic material included in articles, and they should moreover ensure that images, videos, etc., have been created with the consent of the individuals appearing in them, and that material belonging to third parties is clearly identified and acknowledged as such within the text. Likewise, authors should provide the respective consents and authorisations to the SCB when submitting articles. — The SCB is exempt from any liability arising from the possible infringement of intellectual property rights by authors. In all cases, it undertakes to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies, if necessary. — Unless otherwise stated in the text or in the graphic material, the contents published in the journal are subject to an Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivs 3.0 Spain (by-nc-nd) license from Creative Commons, the full text of which may be consulted at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/deed.en. Therefore, the general public is authorised to reproduce, distribute and communicate articles as long as their authorship and publishing entity are acknowledged, and no commercial use is made of them nor derivative work produced from them. — The journal is not responsible for the ideas and opinions expressed by the authors of published articles.
