Final answer:
Curt Lively's empirical test supports the idea that sexual reproduction, by generating diverse offspring, can improve a population's adaptability in changing environments. This diversity is a key element for natural selection, and mating strategies influenced by this process can affect gene selection, confirming the importance of sexual reproduction in evolution.
Step-by-step explanation:
Curt Lively's empirical test focused on the hypothesis that sexual reproduction is beneficial due to variable selection in changing environments. Specifically, the studies suggest that sexual reproduction can lead to offspring with diverse phenotypes, which may be crucial in the survival of a population facing environmental fluctuations. This diversity is the 'raw material' on which natural selection operates, enabling the evolution of populations.
The studies further discuss how aspects of behavioral biology, or ethology, such as the mating strategies of sperm-depleted males, play a role in natural selection. When males are low on sperm, they may alter their behavior to mate with smaller, more fecund females, thereby increasing their chances of producing offspring. Selection may favor these behaviors, leading to the proliferation of genes that promote such strategic mating choices.
In addition, research in human sexual preferences, like the one by Buss (1989), provides evidence supporting various evolutionary hypotheses and contributes to our understanding of how sexual selection shapes behavior. The good genes hypothesis, handicap principle, and honest signaling are all theories that explain how sexual selection can lead to individuals developing particular traits that may offer reproductive advantages, reflecting underlying genetic fitness.