Editing Evolution (section)

==== Sexual selection ====
{{further|Sexual selection}}
[[File:Rana arvalis2.jpg|thumb|Male [[moor frog]]s become blue during the height of mating season. Blue reflectance may be a form of intersexual communication. It is hypothesised that males with brighter blue coloration may signal greater sexual and genetic fitness.<ref name="Ries-2008">{{Cite journal |last1=Ries |first1=C |last2=Spaethe |first2=J |last3=Sztatecsny |first3=M |last4=Strondl |first4=C |last5=Hödl |first5=W |date=20 October 2008 |title=Turning blue and ultraviolet: sex-specific colour change during the mating season in the Balkan moor frog |url=https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1469-7998.2008.00456.x |journal=Journal of Zoology |volume=276 |issue=3 |pages=229–236 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-7998.2008.00456.x |via=Google Scholar}}</ref>]]

A special case of natural selection is sexual selection, which is selection for any trait that increases mating success by increasing the attractiveness of an organism to potential mates.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Andersson |first1=Malte |last2=Simmons |first2=Leigh W. |date=June 2006 |title=Sexual selection and mate choice |journal=Trends in Ecology & Evolution |volume=21 |issue=6 |pages=296–302 |pmid=16769428 |doi=10.1016/j.tree.2006.03.015 |issn=0169-5347 |url=http://academic.reed.edu/biology/professors/srenn/pages/teaching/2008_syllabus/2008_readings/2_anderson-simmons_2006.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309112854/http://academic.reed.edu/biology/professors/srenn/pages/teaching/2008_syllabus/2008_readings/2_Anderson-Simmons_2006.pdf |archive-date=9 March 2013 |citeseerx=10.1.1.595.4050}}</ref> Traits that evolved through sexual selection are particularly prominent among males of several animal species. Although sexually favoured, traits such as cumbersome antlers, mating calls, large body size and bright colours often attract predation, which compromises the survival of individual males.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kokko |first1=Hanna |author-link1=Hanna Kokko |last2=Brooks |first2=Robert |last3=McNamara |first3=John M. |last4=Houston |first4=Alasdair I. |date=7 July 2002 |title=The sexual selection continuum |journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society B]] |volume=269 |issue=1498 |pages=1331–1340 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2002.2020 |issn=0962-8452 |pmc=1691039 |pmid=12079655}}</ref><ref name="Quinn-2001">{{cite journal |last1=Quinn |first1=Thomas P. |last2=Hendry |first2=Andrew P. |last3=Buck |first3=Gregory B. |year=2001 |title=Balancing natural and sexual selection in sockeye salmon: interactions between body size, reproductive opportunity and vulnerability to predation by bears |url=http://redpath-staff.mcgill.ca/hendry/QuinnetalEvolEcolRes2001.pdf |journal=Evolutionary Ecology Research |volume=3 |pages=917–937 |issn=1522-0613 |access-date=15 December 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305092304/http://redpath-staff.mcgill.ca/hendry/QuinnetalEvolEcolRes2001.pdf |archive-date=5 March 2016}}</ref> This survival disadvantage is balanced by higher reproductive success in males that show these [[Handicap principle|hard-to-fake]], sexually selected traits.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hunt |first1=John |last2=Brooks |first2=Robert |last3=Jennions |first3=Michael D. |last4=Smith |first4=Michael J. |last5=Bentsen |first5=Caroline L. |last6=Bussière |first6=Luc F. |date=23 December 2004 |title=High-quality male field crickets invest heavily in sexual display but die young |journal=Nature |volume=432 |issue=7020 |pages=1024–1027 |bibcode=2004Natur.432.1024H |doi=10.1038/nature03084 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=15616562 |s2cid=4417867 |display-authors=3}}</ref>