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A Dimensionless Invariant For Relative Size At Sex Change In Animals: Explanation And Implications, Andy Gardner, David Allsop, Eric Charnov, Stuart West
A Dimensionless Invariant For Relative Size At Sex Change In Animals: Explanation And Implications, Andy Gardner, David Allsop, Eric Charnov, Stuart West
Biology Faculty & Staff Publications
Recent comparative studies across sex-changing animals have found that the relative size and age at sex change are strikingly invariant. In particular, 91%-97% of the variation in size at sex change across species can be explained by the simple rule that individuals change sex when they reach 72% of their maximum body size. However, this degree of invariance is surprising and has proved controversial. In particular, it is not clear why this result should hold, given that there is considerable biological variation across species in factors that can influence the evolutionarily stable timing of sex change. Our overall aim here …
Dimensionless Invariants For The Optimal Size (Age) Of Sex Change, Eric Charnov, Unnur Skúladóttir
Dimensionless Invariants For The Optimal Size (Age) Of Sex Change, Eric Charnov, Unnur Skúladóttir
Biology Faculty & Staff Publications
Optimization models have been widely and successfully used in evolutionary ecology to predict the attributes of organisms; perhaps the greatest quantitative success is in the area of sex allocation (sex ratio, sperm versus eggs for hermaphrodites, time as a male [female] for a sex changer), where the fact of having only one mother and one father makes Darwinian fitness a simple product of gain-via-male times gain-via-female. Previous work on sex change used the maximization of this male—female product to successfully predict the direction and age (size) for sex change, and that age has been shown to imply a breeding sex …
Sperm Competition And Sex Allocation In Simultaneous Hermaphrodites, Eric Charnov
Sperm Competition And Sex Allocation In Simultaneous Hermaphrodites, Eric Charnov
Biology Faculty & Staff Publications
Sex allocation theory is developed for hermaphrodites having frequent copulations and long-term sperm storage. Provided the sperm displacement mechanisms are similar to those known in insects, the ESS allocation to sperm versus eggs satisfies a rather simple rule. There are no data to test this rule, as yet.
The Genetical Evolution Of Patterns Of Sexuality: Darwinian Fitness., Eric Charnov
The Genetical Evolution Of Patterns Of Sexuality: Darwinian Fitness., Eric Charnov
Biology Faculty & Staff Publications
No abstract provided.