Female roles during postcopulatory sexual selection

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The project will evaluate the importance of postcopulatory sexual selection in the guppy, a polyandrous species of livebearing fish. The use of artificial insemination, which experimentally controls the relative contribution of sperm from competing males (as well as other confounding effects), will facilitate a powerful test of recent theoretical predictions in evolutionary biology. The project will enable me to distinguish between competing hypotheses for postcopulatory paternity bias following female multiple mating (sperm competition, cryptic female choice, genetic compatibility) and provide additional insights into the selective forces promoting the evolution of female promiscuity.