Animal Homosexuality: A Biosocial Perspective

Cover
Cambridge University Press, 19.08.2010
Homosexuality is an evolutionary paradox in search for a resolution, not a medical condition in search for a cure. Homosexual behavior is common among social animals, and mainly expressed within the context of a bisexual sexual orientation. Exclusive homosexuality is less common, but not unique to humans. Poiani and Dixson invite the reader to embark on a journey through the evolutionary, biological, psychological and sociological aspects of homosexuality, seeking an understanding of both the proximate and evolutionary causes of homosexual behavior and orientation in humans, other mammals and birds. The authors also provide a synthesis of what we know about homosexuality into a biosocial model that links recent advances in reproductive skew theory and various selection mechanisms to produce a comprehensive framework that will be useful for anyone teaching or planning future research in this field.
 

Inhalt

1 Animal homosexuality in evolutionary perspective
1
2 The comparative study of homosexual behaviour
33
3 Genetics of homosexuality
55
4 Ontogenetic processes
97
a network of causality for homosexual behaviour
159
6 Immunology and homosexuality
265
7 Sexual segregation effects
283
8 The social life history and ecological theatres of animal homosexual behaviour
323
9 Homosexual behaviour in primates Alan Dixson
381
10 A Biosocial Model for the evolution and maintenance of homosexual behaviour in birds and mammals
401
Glossary
427
Predictions of the Synthetic Reproductive Skew Model of Homosexuality and results obtained in the comparative tests of the model carried out in bir...
435
Comments on further results of comparative analyses of independent contrasts reported in the full correlation matrices of birds and mammals
441
REFERENCES
443
Index
535
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Autoren-Profil (2010)

Aldo Poiani is an evolutionary ecologist from Monash University, Australia. He has studied social behaviour, sexual behaviour and parasitism in birds, having published widely in the fields of avian cooperative breeding and host-parasite interactions, including aspects related to behaviour, endocrinology and comparative biology. He has carried out field research in Australia, Europe and South America and is editor of the book Floods in an Arid Continent.

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