Introduction: the enigma of sexual size dimorphism

2007/07/05 by Daphne J. Fairbairn · 2 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · #Animal Behavior and Reproduction #Wildlife Ecology and Conservation #Amphibian and Reptile Biology

paper · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208784.003.0001

openalex publication_date 2007/07/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/05

Abstract

Abstract This introductory chapter opens by describing general patterns of variation in sexual size dimorphism (SSD), with emphasis on several taxa (plants, fishes, and aquatic invertebrates) not included in the survey chapters that follow. It also highlights recently documented examples of extreme SSD, such as Lamprologus callipterus, a shell-brooding cichlid fish, where males are >12 times heavier than females, and the blanket octopus (Tremoctopus violaceous), where females can be 40,000 times larger than the dwarf males. The chapter then develops the two major integrative themes of the book: discovering the adaptive significance of SSD and determining the importance of genetic constraints in shaping its evolution. After briefly summarizing the contributions of the chapters to these themes, the chapter closes by discussing methodological difficulties associated with estimating adult body size and SSD in natural populations.

Citations

• Intra-sexual selection in Drosophila
• The Social Organisation of Antelope in Relation To Their Ecology
• The social behaviour of anuran amphibians
• First encounter with a live male blanket octopus: The world's most sexually size‐dimorphic large animal
• Sexual dimorphism in the canines and skulls of carnivores: effects of size, phylogency, and behavioural ecology
• The Significance of Spider Size to the Diversification of Spider-Web Architectures and Spider Reproductive Modes
• An Evolutionary Cost of Separate Genders Revealed by Male‐Limited Evolution
• Inferring evolutionary processes from phylogenies
• Secondary sex characters in plants
• The Strength of Phenotypic Selection in Natural Populations
• Natural selection and the heritability of fitness components
• The Temperature‐Size Rule in Ectotherms: Simple Evolutionary Explanations May Not Be General
• Sexual size dimorphism in fallow deer (Dama dama): do larger, heavier males gain greater mating success?
• Analyzing Body Size as a Factor in Ecology and Evolution
• THE AMPHIBIAN TREE OF LIFE
• Adaptive Male Parental Care in the Giant Bullfrog, Pyxicephalus adspersus

Cited by

• Male and female pups of the highly sexually dimorphic northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) differ slightly in body size
• Cephalopod size [wikipedia]

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• DISENTANGLING THE CONTRIBUTION OF SEXUAL SELECTION AND ECOLOGY TO THE EVOLUTION OF SIZE DIMORPHISM IN PINNIPEDS
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