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Abstract
Differential allocation occurs when reproductive investment is influenced by mate
attractiveness. Recently, wide-ranging empirical support for differential allocation
has been obtained. These data suggest that mates can affect the payoffs from reproduction,
thus making sacrifices of reproductive value worthwhile when breeding with an attractive
mate. As an example of an adaptive parental effect, the existence of differential
allocation has some interesting implications for empirical studies of sexual selection
and for predicting evolutionary responses to selection.