Evol Ecol Res 9: 1097-1117 (2007)     Full PDF if your library subscribes.

The effect of sexually antagonistic selection on adaptive sex ratio allocation

Suzanne H. Alonzo1* and Barry Sinervo2

1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT and 2Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

Address all correspondence to: S.H. Alonzo, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, PO Box 208106, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
e-mail: suzanne.alonzo@yale.edu

ABSTRACT

Question: How is sexually antagonistic selection predicted to affect sex ratio allocation and female mate choice?

Background: While extensive theory has examined adaptive sex allocation, no theory exists to address the effect of sexually antagonistic selection on adaptive sex-ratio bias. We examine this issue in the side-blotched lizard, Uta stansburiana, where females experience a trade-off between producing high-fitness sons and high-fitness daughters.

Mathematical method: We find the evolutionarily stable female choice and sex ratio pattern for individual females as a function of their own genotype, the genotype of their mate, and their social environment. Data collected on the side-blotched lizard over the last decade were used to structure and parameterize the model.

Assumptions: Females produce the sex allocation pattern that is the best response to their current social environment depending on their own genotype and the genotype of their mate.

Predictions: Our model predicts that sexually antagonistic selection can favour individual and population-level sex-ratio biases when sex allocation is allowed to be facultative. Individual females are predicted to differ in the direction of their bias based on the genotype of their mate and their own genotype. This context-dependent sex allocation can lead to some females specializing on producing sons while other females produce mainly daughters.

Keywords: alternative reproductive patterns, female mate choice, game theory, sex allocation, sex ratio, sexual selection, sexually antagonistic selection.

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        © 2007 Suzanne H. Alonzo. All EER articles are copyrighted by their authors. All authors endorse, permit and license Evolutionary Ecology Ltd. to grant its subscribing institutions/libraries the copying privileges specified below without additional consideration or payment to them or to Evolutionary Ecology, Ltd. These endorsements, in writing, are on file in the office of Evolutionary Ecology, Ltd. Consult authors for permission to use any portion of their work in derivative works, compilations or to distribute their work in any commercial manner.

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