Sexual selection in Neotropical species: rules and exceptions

PERETTI. A. V.

Sexual Selection: Perspectives and Models from the Neotropics

ACADEMIC PRESS

Lugar: New York; Año: 2014; p. 33 - 52

Science is a changing system, in which many paradigms currently accepted were considered inadequate in the past. Similarly, it is accepted that well-established explanations can be strongly modified in the near future. Many fields in evolutionary biology, such as animal behavior and sexual selection, are good examples of such change. Robust explanations result from the identification of patterns that reflect general or well established rules and other patterns thatconstitute exceptions or that remain unclear. It is crucial to clearly recognize the differences between what has been established as a general patternfrom what is an exception,as interpretations in both cases have different implications from an evolutionary perspective. This chapter explores this issue using the following guidelines: 1) To examine what are rules and exceptionsin biology and, particularly, in reproduction. Criteria used. 2) Why is it useful to clarify these differences? Changes in criteria and concepts within subject areas. Implicit bias. 3) Possible situations: a) when a rule comes to be viewed as an exception; b) when something that was considered an exceptionbecomes a rule. Studies of Neotropical species are used as examples to illustrate part of this interactive link since they provide new material to confirm, limit or refute concepts based upon rules and exceptions in sexual selection.