Abstract
Both natural and sexual selection affect the expression of secondary sexual characters1, so any secondary sexual character will be affected by a mixture of selection pressures. Evans2 has compared the flight performance of male barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) whose tail lengths have been altered with that of controls, and concludes that the outermost tail feathers of these birds are mainly the outcome of natural selection.
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References
Darwin, C. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (Murray, London, 1871).
Evans, M. R. Nature 394, 233–234 (1998).
Hedenström, A. Trends Ecol. Evol. 10, 140–141 (1995).
Møller, A. P. Sexual Selection and the Barn Swallow (Oxford Univ. Press, 1994).
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Møller, A. P.et al. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 265, 409–414 (1998).
Møller, A. P. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 32, 371–376 (1993).
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Hedenström, A., Møller, A. Length of tail streamers in barn swallows. Nature 397, 115 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/16371
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/16371
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