On the Correlation between Mating Success and Offspring Quality in Drosophila melanogaster

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Abstract
We measured the correlation between mating success and other components of fitness by using isogenic strains of Drosophila melanogaster. The strains were not inbred and comprised a more or less random sample of the genotypes in a natural population. No correlation was observed between developmental time or preadult survival of the male genotypes and their subsequent mating success, but the correlation between mating success and the success of their offspring in larval competition was high (0.76-0.92). Sexual selection in this species thus seems to result in higher-quality offspring, as predicted by theories of sexual selection but not by the predominant theories of life history evolution.