Mom was right: Nice guys don't always finish last

BINGHAMTON, NY -- Picture it: One jerk in a bar spends the night delivering bad come-ons to women. By the end of the evening, the women aren't receptive to even the nicest guys around.

It's a scenario with a basis in evolutionary theory. Males increase their fitness by acquiring more mates; however, this is often not the case for females – and therein lies the conflict.

Researchers at Binghamton University and the University of Arizona studied sexual conflict in water striders, an insect that's a common model system. They found that, given a choice, females will group themselves around the gentlemen.

The results of the groundbreaking experiment – in which the insects had a freedom of movement not possible in most studies of sexual conflict – appear in the Nov. 6 edition of the prestigious journal Science.

"The original title of the paper was 'Nice Guys Don't Always Finish Last,'" lead author Omar Tonsi Eldakar said. "I find that statement to be quite descriptive of the project."

Previous studies of sexual conflict generally have limited individual movement, emphasizing local competition, noted Eldakar, a 2008 PhD graduate of Binghamton University and a post-doctoral fellow with the Center for Insect Science at the University of Arizona.

Eldakar said he perceives sexual conflict as an example of the "tragedy of the commons," a situation in which the most exploitive strategy benefits the individual at the expense of the group. (The classic example is of a shepherd who adds another animal to his herd even though the shared pasture is overgrazed.) Few researchers have framed sexual conflict in these terms; however, Eldakar sees a parallel between that shared pasture and the availability of females.