Sexual signalling and parental care: A life-history perspective

Males often use sexual displays to attract females. It is not often recognised, however, that such displays require an investment of resources that may have to be traded against other components of male fitness. I will use the Australian desert goby Chlamydogobius eremius to test the prediction that signalling effort is optimised with respect to current and future reproductive success, and that allocation of resources to sexual signalling may occur in competition with other components of reproductive investment such as parental care. This study will inject a much needed life-history perspective into our understanding of signalling effort and sexual selection.