passing on genetics

[Frisbinator]

I've been watching a lot of nature shows. Now, I'm sure there are exceptions, but the vast majority of the time, male organisms compete with other male organisms, sometimes to death, in order to have the privalege to mate with the females.

Now, when the mating occurs, the offspring produced has traits taken both from the male and from the female.

Do traits such as the male's strength, dexterity, intelligence, dominance, aka what the male used to defeat the other males, become inherited by the offspring from the male, or are those types of things passed on genetically from the female?

And IF they are passed on genetically from the female anyway, then why should males compete to mate with females? Are there statistically more males, that supply and demand are taken into effect? Why should most male species have evolved to compete to mate?

Two things I do NOT want to hear:
A. MALES SIMPLY WANT TO PASS ON THEIR GENES TO AS MANY FEMALES AS POSSIBLE.

(I know that, but why would they want to if many traits come from the female anyway)


B. THE HORNED LIZARD FEMALE ACTUALLY MUST COMPETE WITH OTHER FEMALES, AS MUST THE THREE-TOED MALAYSIAN SHREW.

(I know there are exceptions, but in the vast majority of the time, it's the other way around!)

 

[Maddad]

Do traits such as the male's strength, dexterity, intelligence, dominance, aka what the male used to defeat the other males, become inherited by the offspring from the male, or are those types of things passed on genetically from the female?

If the male was the one who had them, then the offspring got them from the male.

 

[Frisbinator]

So those traits are not passed from the female?

 

[whitewolf]

They are passed from the mate that was competing. That's the whole point. The female goes for the male which is most aggressive in her group because she wants her offspring to be aggresive (strong enough to survive) and pass its genes on. Didn't the nature shows spell that out?

Actually, some females compete among each other as well, only in less aggressive ways. No? Like, there's a top female in a group which the males try to get?

 

[Clockwood]

Genes are passed down in a nearly fifty-fifty split. (except for what is in the mitochondria, which the child gets solely from the mother) Its the combination of the male's and the female's genes that give rise to a given trait. The traits of a male may be diluted with a female or vice versa but desireable traits are bred back to in successive generations.

 

[QuarkHead]

This is a very interesting question. Let me paraphrase so we can all see the problem. Genes are "eternal", and the organism carrying them is merely their temporary repository. The survival imperitive is therefore an inate function of the gene rather than of the organism. But obviously, the organism must be "constructed" in such a way that the imperitive is felt by it.

As a gene can have no knowledge of its carrier, the question arises: why do males compete to pass on their genes to a greater extent than do females?

the vast majority of the time, male organisms compete with other male organisms, sometimes to death, in order to have the privalege to mate with the females.

Well, do they? Depends what we mean by compete. Both sexes feel an imperitive to mate, but it is true that in some species it appears to be the male who tries to spread his genes as widely as possible. To geneticist, that's no big deal. As long as a gene as passed around, it doesn't matter who's doing it.
And there are bird species where the female, having mated, will immediately mate with another male to ensure fertilization.

Now, when the mating occurs, the offspring produced has traits taken both from the male and from the female.

Usually, yes. You're on safer ground if you say the genetic contribution from each parent was equal (or almost so - because the X chromosome is larger than the Y the female passes on fractionally more)

Do traits such as the male's strength, dexterity, intelligence, dominance, aka what the male used to defeat the other males, become inherited by the offspring from the male, or are those types of things passed on genetically from the female?

What we think of as being "typically male" are referred to as secondary sex characteristics. The primary are the gonads and genitalia. The secondary characteristics are the result of hormonal influences during devolpment, mostly long after birth. So the issue of "agression", "dominance" etc have meaning only in the context of devolpment under the influence of an X or Y chromosome. Y, by definition comes from the father.

And IF they are passed on genetically from the female anyway,

Have I said enough for you to realise this is the wrong question?

then why should males compete to mate with females? Are there statistically more males, that supply and demand are taken into effect? Why should most male species have evolved to compete to mate?

Again, depends what you mean by compete. Females compete in different ways to males (and socialised humans are no guide here!). As it happens in most mammals, the ratio of female biths to male is slightly in favour of females. But not enough for the effect you are implying.