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Understanding same-sex sexual behaviour requires thorough testing rather than reinvention of theory

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 4, pages 784–785 (2020)Cite this article

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Matters Arising to this article was published on 20 April 2020

The Original Article was published on 18 November 2019

arising from J. D. Monk et al. Nature Ecology & Evolution https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-1019-7 (2019)

Monk et al.1 argue that they have outlined an alternative hypothesis for same-sex sexual behaviour (SSB), whereby an ancestral condition of indiscriminate sexual behaviour would have led to the evolution of SSB in various lineages. They justify the novelty of their claim by suggesting that previous research has implicitly assumed that SSB carries high fitness costs and derives from an ancestral state of different-sex sexual behaviour (DSB). We argue that their views arise from a misreading of current theory, and a conflation of the evolutionary origins and maintenance of the trait. Instead, we propose that rather than reinventing theory, a thorough testing of existing hypotheses is needed.

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Fig. 1: A behavioural ecology framework for disentangling the evolution of SSB.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Jackson Clive, Ewan Flintham.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Ascot, UK

    Jackson Clive, Ewan Flintham & Vincent Savolainen

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  1. Jackson Clive
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  2. Ewan Flintham
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  3. Vincent Savolainen
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J.C., E.F. and V.S. contributed equally to the writing of this manuscript.

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Correspondence to Vincent Savolainen.

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Clive, J., Flintham, E. & Savolainen, V. Understanding same-sex sexual behaviour requires thorough testing rather than reinvention of theory. Nat Ecol Evol 4, 784–785 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-1189-3

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