Abstract
Males and females frequently have different fitness optima for shared traits, and as a result, genotypes that are high fitness as males are low fitness as females, and vice versa. When this occurs, biasing of offspring sex-ratio to reduce the production of the lower-fitness sex would be advantageous, so that for example, broods produced by high-fitness females should contain fewer sons. We tested for offspring sex-ratio biasing consistent with these predictions in broad-horned flour beetles. We found that in both wild-type beetles and populations subject to artificial selection for high- and low-fitness males, offspring sex ratios were biased in the predicted direction: low-fitness females produced an excess of sons, whereas high-fitness females produced an excess of daughters. Thus, these beetles are able to adaptively bias sex ratio and recoup indirect fitness benefits of mate choice.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 193-197 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Ecology Letters |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2012 |
Keywords
- Beetle
- Sex ratio
- Sexual conflict
- Sexual selection
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics