ABSTRACT

We consider mathematical models describing the evolutionary consequences of antagonistic
interactions between male offense, male defense, and female reproductive tract and physiology
in controlling female mating rate.
Overall, the models support previous verbal arguments about the possibility of continuous
coevolutionary chase between the sexes driven by two-way (e.g., between male offense and
female traits) and three-way (e.g., between male offense, male defense, and female traits)
intersexual antagonistic interactions. At the same time,
the models  clarify these arguments by identifying various additional potential
evolutionary dynamics and important
parameters (e.g., genetic variances, female optimum mating rates, strength of selection in
females, and the relative contributions of first and second males into offspring)
and emphasizing the importance of initial conditions.
Models also show that sexual conflict can result in the evolution of monandry in an initially
polyandrous species and in the evolution of random mating in a population initially exhibiting
nonrandom mating.