Alternative reproductive tactics and status-dependent selection

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Abstract
The status-dependent selection model on alternative reproductive tactics predicts a single switch-point in status: usually all players above some status (e.g., competitive ability) should practice the tactic with the higher average payoff, while those below that point should make the “best of a bad job” by practicing the alternative, lower payoff tactic. Many empirical studies indeed show a relationship between status and tactic choice, but they do not conform to this single switch-point prediction. I modify the status-dependent selection model by considering status-dependent fitness that is mediated, at least in part, by resource acquisition (e.g., status-based competition for territories or nuptial gifts). With variation in resource quality, predicted tactic-choice distributions change: a high-status male may be territorial on a high-quality territory, a lower status male may practice an alternative tactic, and an even lower status male may be territorial on a low-quality territory. Tactic choice thus alternates as in many empirical studies and can appear to be but is not actually stochastic. As the number of theoretically predicted switch-points increases, however, mixed or mixed-conditional strategies should become more prevalent. While alternative tactics will likely usually differ in mean payoff, viewing alternative reproductive tactics as inherently “better” or “worse” (e.g., viewing cuckoldry as “worse”—the best of a bad job) is misleading if not tempered with awareness that payoff can vary greatly within tactics and overlap between tactics.

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