Project Abstract
While sexual dimorphism is common—and posed such a dilemma that Darwin developed the theory of sexual selection to solve the puzzle of its evolution—studies of its mechanistic driver, sex-biased gene expression, have focused on sexual conflict and not sexual selection. Our project
will be the first to decisively test the role of sexual selection in the evolution of sex-biased gene expression using six species of pipefish that vary in levels of sexual selection. By comparing sexual selection strengths and sex-biased gene expression, we have a unique opportunity to finally resolve the factors underpinning Darwin’s greatest puzzle.
