Sex Allocation

by West, Stuart A.

• ISBN13: 9780691089645
• ISBN10: 0691089647
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781400832019
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-09-28
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

"West has great command of a vast body of theory and empirical work, but this book does more than synthesize existing literature. West explains what has been accomplished, where the field has failed to clear things up, and what needs to be done. Anyone working on sex allocation can start with this book and get a firm grasp of the concepts, experiments, comparative observations, and key outstanding questions."--Steven A. Frank, University of California, Irvine "This is a great book. It captures the excitement of sex-allocation research, the significant progress that has been made, and the areas that have been relatively neglected. West does a great job of showing the tight connection between evolutionary theory and empirical testing, and the ways both can mutually inspire each other. He deals with all the major issues and guides the reader through the entire field."--Jacobus J. Boomsma, University of Copenhagen

Author Biography

Stuart West is professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Oxford.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Sex Allocation	p. 1
What Is Sex Allocation?	p. 1
A Potted History	p. 2
Why Is This Book Needed?	p. 8
What Is in This Book	p. 8
What Is Not in This Book	p. 10
How To Read This Book	p. 11
Language and Sex Ratios	p. 12
The Düsing-Fisher Theory of Equal Investment	p. 14
Introduction	p. 14
Fisher's Theory of Equal Investment	p. 15
Darwin to Today	p. 16
Differential Mortality	p. 19
Testing Fisher's Theory	p. 20
Conclusions and Future Directions	p. 31
Interactions between Relatives I: Cooperation and Competition	p. 33
Introduction	p. 33
Basic Theory	p. 34
Local Resource Enhancement	p. 40
Local Resource Competition	p. 53
Conclusions and Future Directions	p. 69
Interactions between Relatives II: Local Mate Competition	p. 73
Introduction	p. 73
Classic Local Mate Competition Theory	p. 74
Empirical Tests of Local Mate Competition Theory across Populations or Species	p. 83
Facultative Adjustment of Offspring Sex Ratios by Individuals	p. 93
Conclusions and Future Directions	p. 107
Interactions between Relatives III: Extended Local Mate Competition Theory	p. 109
Introduction	p. 109
Partial LMC	p. 110
Variable Clutch Size	p. 116
Sibmating and Split Sex Ratios in Haplodiploids	p. 131
Inbreeding Depression	p. 134
Limited Dispersal and Relatedness between Foundress Females	p. 136
Haystacks	p. 140
Asymmetrical Larval Competition	p. 143
Fertility Insurance	p. 143
Variance and Precision	p. 151
Other Population Structures	p. 154
Stochasticity	p. 155
Conclusions and Future Directions	p. 156
Conditional Sex Allocation I: Basic Scenarios	p. 162
Introduction	p. 162
Theory	p. 165
Solitary Parasitoid Wasps and Host Size	p. 167
Maternal Quality in Ungulates	p. 174
Maternal Quality and Related Factors in Nonungulates	p. 182
Mate Attractiveness in Birds and Lizards	p. 187
Environmental Sex Determination	p. 191
Sex Change	p. 198
Conclusions and Future Directions	p. 205
Conditional Sex Allocation II: Population Consequences and Further Complications	p. 210
Introduction	p. 210
Population-Level Patterns	p. 211
Sex Change Complications	p. 225
ESD Complications, Especially in Reptiles	p. 243
Multiple Selective Forces: LMC and Host Size in Parasitoid Wasps	p. 251
Simultaneous Hermaphrodites	p. 254
Conclusions and Future Directions	p. 255
Sex Allocation When Generations Overlap	p. 257
Introduction	p. 257
Exceptional Mortality	p. 258
Exceptional Recruitment	p. 263
Cyclical Models	p. 265
Conclusions and Future Directions	p. 273
Conflict I: Between Individuals	p. 276
Introduction	p. 276
Conflict under Fisherian Selection	p. 277
Conflict under LMC, LRC, and LRE	p. 278
Sibling Conflict in Haplodiploids and Single-Sex Broods	p. 281
Polyembryonic Parasitoids	p. 282
Sex Allocation Conflicts in the Eusocial Hymenoptera	p. 287
Conclusions and Future Directions	p. 311
Conflict II: Sex Allocation Distorters	p. 316
Introduction	p. 316
Classification of Sex Ratio Distorters	p. 317
Case Studies	p. 329
Consequences of Sex Ratio Distorters	p. 344
Conclusions and Future Directions	p. 351
General Issues	p. 353
Introduction	p. 353
The Success of Sex Allocation	p. 354
The Use of Sex Allocation	p. 355
Outstanding Problems	p. 375
References	p. 379
Index	p. 463
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