Local resource competition and the skewness of the sex ratio: a demographic model

  • Received: 01 December 2007 Accepted: 29 June 2018 Published: 01 October 2008
  • MSC : 92Dxx

  • Most animal populations are characterized by balanced sex ratios, but there exist several exceptions in which the sex ratio at birth is skewed. An interesting hypothesis proposed by Clark (1978) to explain male-biased sex ratios is the local resource competition theory: the bias may be expected in those species in which males disperse more than females, which are thus more prone to local competition for resources. Here we discuss some of the ideas underlying Clark's theory using a spatially explicit approach. In particular, we focus on the role of spatiotemporal heterogeneity as a possible determinant of biased sex ratios. We model spatially structured semelparous populations where either Ricker density dependence or environmental stochasticity can generate irregular spatiotemporal patterns. The proposed discrete-time model describes both genetic and complex population dynamics assuming that (1) sex ratio is genetically determined, (2) only young males can disperse, and (3) individuals locally compete for resources. The analysis of the model shows that no skewed sex ratios can arise in homogeneous habitats. Temporal asynchronized fluctuations between two distinct patches coupled with dispersal of young males is the minimum requirement for obtaining skewed sex ratios of demographic nature in local adult populations. However, the establishment of a male-biased sex ratio at birth in the long run is possible if dispersal is genetically determined and there is genetic linkage between sex ratio determination and dispersal.

    Citation: Lorenzo Mari, Marino Gatto, Renato Casagrandi. Local resource competition and the skewness of the sex ratio: a demographic model[J]. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, 2008, 5(4): 813-830. doi: 10.3934/mbe.2008.5.813

    Related Papers:

  • Most animal populations are characterized by balanced sex ratios, but there exist several exceptions in which the sex ratio at birth is skewed. An interesting hypothesis proposed by Clark (1978) to explain male-biased sex ratios is the local resource competition theory: the bias may be expected in those species in which males disperse more than females, which are thus more prone to local competition for resources. Here we discuss some of the ideas underlying Clark's theory using a spatially explicit approach. In particular, we focus on the role of spatiotemporal heterogeneity as a possible determinant of biased sex ratios. We model spatially structured semelparous populations where either Ricker density dependence or environmental stochasticity can generate irregular spatiotemporal patterns. The proposed discrete-time model describes both genetic and complex population dynamics assuming that (1) sex ratio is genetically determined, (2) only young males can disperse, and (3) individuals locally compete for resources. The analysis of the model shows that no skewed sex ratios can arise in homogeneous habitats. Temporal asynchronized fluctuations between two distinct patches coupled with dispersal of young males is the minimum requirement for obtaining skewed sex ratios of demographic nature in local adult populations. However, the establishment of a male-biased sex ratio at birth in the long run is possible if dispersal is genetically determined and there is genetic linkage between sex ratio determination and dispersal.


    加载中
  • Reader Comments
  • © 2008 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com
  • 1. 

    沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院 沈阳 110142

  1. 本站搜索
  2. 百度学术搜索
  3. 万方数据库搜索
  4. CNKI搜索

Metrics

Article views(1966) PDF downloads(503) Cited by(4)

Article outline

Other Articles By Authors

/

DownLoad:  Full-Size Img  PowerPoint
Return
Return

Catalog