Stress hormones and mate choice

Abstract

A few recent studies have suggested that glucocorticoid stress hormones can play a role in sexual selection. In terms of mate choice, these studies have shown that individuals can exhibit preferences for mates with either low baseline or peak glucocorticoid levels. This appears to occur because stress hormones can be key mediators of many condition-dependent, sexually selected traits that serve as honest signals of mate quality. We suggest that our understanding of how sexual selection can influence the glucocorticoid stress response will be expanded by studying the interactions among glucocorticoid stress hormones, sex steroids and body condition. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.