Demography can favour female-advantageous alleles

Harts, Anna M. F.; Schwanz, Lisa E.; Kokko, Hanna

doi:10.1098/rspb.2014.0005

Cited by 62 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…) have suggested that phenotypic plasticity in female behavior in response to rising temperatures is not sufficient to ameliorate the effects of climate warming. Furthermore, a recent study has demonstrated that local adaptation by TSD reptiles to climate is not always possible (Harts et al., in press).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Under what conditions do climate‐driven sex ratios enhance versus diminish population persistence?

Boyle

Hone

Schwanz

et al. 2014

Ecology and Evolution

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For many species of reptile, crucial demographic parameters such as embryonic survival and individual sex (male or female) depend on ambient temperature during incubation. While much has been made of the role of climate on offspring sex ratios in species with temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), the impact of variable sex ratio on populations is likely to depend on how limiting male numbers are to female fecundity in female-biased populations, and whether a climatic effect on embryonic survival overwhelms or interacts with sex ratio. To examine the sensitivity of populations to these interacting factors, we developed a generalized model to explore the effects of embryonic survival, hatchling sex ratio, and the interaction between these, on population size and persistence while varying the levels of male limitation. Populations with TSD reached a greater maximum number of females compared to populations with GSD, although this was often associated with a narrower range of persistence. When survival depended on temperature, TSD populations persisted over a greater range of temperatures than GSD populations. This benefit of TSD was greatly reduced by even modest male limitation, indicating very strong importance of this largely unmeasured biologic factor. Finally, when males were not limiting, a steep relationship between sex ratio and temperature favoured population persistence across a wider range of climates compared to the shallower relationships. The opposite was true when males were limiting – shallow relationships between sex ratio and temperature allowed greater persistence. The results highlight that, if we are to predict the response of populations with TSD to climate change, it is imperative to 1) accurately quantify the extent to which male abundance limits female fecundity, and 2) measure how sex ratios and peak survival coincide over climate.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Under what conditions do climate‐driven sex ratios enhance versus diminish population persistence?

Boyle

Hone

Schwanz

et al. 2014

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Resolving conflicts of interest in favour of female rather than male strategies should increase population growth [84]. This means that empowering women to pursue fitness-relevant goals is unlikely to explain demographic transitions towards lower fertility if these reproductive strategies are associated with lower long-term fitness [80,81].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What do men want? Re-examining whether men benefit from higher fertility than is optimal for women

Moya

Snopkowski

Sear

2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Several empirical observations suggest that when women have more autonomy over their reproductive decisions, fertility is lower. Some evolutionary theorists have interpreted this as evidence for sexual conflicts of interest, arguing that higher fertility is more adaptive for men than women. We suggest the assumptions underlying these arguments are problematic: assuming that women suffer higher costs of reproduction than men neglects the (different) costs of reproduction for men; the assumption that men can repartner is often false. We use simple models to illustrate that (i) men or women can prefer longer interbirth intervals (IBIs), (ii) if men can only partner with wives sequentially they may favour shorter IBIs than women, but such a strategy would only be optimal for a few men who can repartner. This suggests that an evolved universal male preference for higher fertility than women prefer is implausible and is unlikely to fully account for the empirical data. This further implies that if women have more reproductive autonomy, populations should grow, not decline. More precise theoretical explanations with clearly stated assumptions, and data that better address both ultimate fitness consequences and proximate psychological motivations, are needed to understand under which conditions sexual conflict over reproductive timing should arise.

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“…By contrast, genetic evolution of mate preferences might not be fast enough to prevent extinction if the fitness costs of heterospecific matings are high, as in the case for the species we have studied here. Finally, a recent theoretical study took a metapopulation ecological perspective and linked sexual selection to the evolution of plasticity and canalization [54]. This study is an empirical contribution to a much-needed integrative research programme of the consequences of sexual selection in heterogeneous environments [55].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex differences in developmental plasticity and canalization shape population divergence in mate preferences

et al. 2014

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Sexual selection of high-quality mates can conflict with species recognition if traits that govern intraspecific mate preferences also influence interspecific recognition. This conflict might be resolved by developmental plasticity and learned mate preferences, which could drive preference divergence in populations that differ in local species composition. We integrate field and laboratory experiments on two calopterygid damselfly species with population genetic data to investigate how sex differences in developmental plasticity affect population divergence in the face of gene flow. Whereas male species recognition is fixed at emergence, females instead learn to recognize heterospecifics. Females are therefore more plastic in their mate preferences than males. We suggest that this results from sex differences in the balance between sexual selection for high-quality mates and selection for species recognition. As a result of these sex differences, females develop more pronounced population divergence in their mate preferences compared with males. Local ecological community context and presence of heterospecifics in combination with sex differences in plasticity and canalization therefore shape population divergence in mate preferences. As ongoing environmental change and habitat fragmentation bring formerly allopatric species into secondary contact, developmental plasticity of mate preferences in either or both sexes might facilitate coexistence and prevent local species extinction.

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Demography can favour female-advantageous alleles

Cited by 62 publications

References 36 publications

Under what conditions do climate‐driven sex ratios enhance versus diminish population persistence?

Under what conditions do climate‐driven sex ratios enhance versus diminish population persistence?

What do men want? Re-examining whether men benefit from higher fertility than is optimal for women

Sex differences in developmental plasticity and canalization shape population divergence in mate preferences

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