Data from: Testing the adaptive significance of sex-specific mating tactics in collared lizards (Crotaphytus collaris)

We tested the hypotheses that 1) territorial defense is adaptive in male collared lizards by examining the extent to which territory owners monopolized females, and 2) females benefited by mating with multiple males using alternative tactics when local sex ratios varied. Surprisingly, neither the number of offspring that males sired nor the number of females that males mated with varied as a consequence of highly variable local sex ratios. Moreover, both the number of offspring sired and the number of female mates were independent of male social status. Courtship frequency was under positive directional sexual selection for mating success for territorial males. None of the phenotypic traits that we examined were targets of sexual selection in non-territorial males. Although offspring survivorship decreased with the degree of multiple mating, females mated multiply with similar numbers of territorial and non-territorial males during all three seasons. Females did not obtain material or genetic benefits that balanced the apparent offspring survival cost imposed by mating with multiple males. Instead, females appeared to be “making the best of a bad job”, perhaps because the abundance of hiding places used by subordinate males makes it difficult for females to avoid male harassment.