Biology Faculty & Staff Publications

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-1976

Abstract

We describe the analogy between the theory of natural selection on sex ratio in newborn gonochores (which will not change sex) and on the age of sex change in sequential hermaphrodites (which are all born into one sex and change to the other later on). We also discuss the conditions under which natural selection favors sequential hermaphrodites over gonochores and vice versa. We show that, in a nearly stable population of nearly constant age composition, selection favors a rare mutant if it increases the prospective reproduction of its newborn bearers that are (or while they are) members of one sex by a percentage exceeding the percentage loss to the other sex.

Publisher

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA

Volume

73

First Page

3656

Last Page

3660

Language (ISO)

English

Keywords

population genetics, sequential hermaphrodites, gonochores

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