Sex Allocation

Acknowledgments xi Chapter 1: Sex Allocation 1 1.1 What Is Sex Allocation? 1 1.2 A Potted History 2 1.3 Why Is This Book Needed? 8 1.4 What Is in This Book 8 1.5 What Is Not in This Book 10 1.6 How To Read This Book 11 1.7 Language and Sex Ratios 12 Chapter 2: The Dusing-Fisher Theory of Equal Investment 14 2.1 Introduction 14 2.2 Fisher's Theory of Equal Investment 15 2.3 Darwin to Today 16 2.4 Differential Mortality 19 2.5 Testing Fisher's Theory 20 2.6 Conclusions and Future Directions 31 Chapter 3: Interactions between Relatives I: Cooperation and Competition 33 3.1 Introduction 33 3.2 Basic Theory 34 3.3 Local Resource Enhancement 40 3.4 Local Resource Competition 53 3.5 Conclusions and Future Directions 69 Chapter 4: Interactions between Relatives II: Local Mate Competition 73 4.1 Introduction 73 4.2 Classic Local Mate Competition Theory 74 4.3 Empirical Tests of Local Mate Competition Theory across Populations or Species 83 4.4 Facultative Adjustment of Offspring Sex Ratios by Individuals 93 4.5 Conclusions and Future Directions 107 Chapter 5: Interactions between Relatives III: Extended Local Mate Competition Theory 109 5.1 Introduction 109 5.2 Partial LMC 110 5.3 Variable Clutch Size 116 5.4 Sibmating and Split Sex Ratios in Haplodiploids 131 5.5 Inbreeding Depression 134 5.6 Limited Dispersal and Relatedness between Foundress Females 136 5.7 Haystacks 140 5.8 Asymmetrical Larval Competition 143 5.9 Fertility Insurance 143 5.10 Variance and Precision 151 5.11 Other Population Structures 154 5.12 Stochasticity 155 5.13 Conclusions and Future Directions 156 Chapter 6: Conditional Sex Allocation I: Basic Scenarios 162 6.1 Introduction 162 6.2 Theory 165 6.3 Solitary Parasitoid Wasps and Host Size 167 6.4 Maternal Quality in Ungulates 174 6.5 Maternal Quality and Related Factors in Nonungulates 182 6.6 Mate Attractiveness in Birds and Lizards 187 6.7 Environmental Sex Determination 191 6.8 Sex Change 198 6.9 Conclusions and Future Directions 205

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

Understanding mating strategies and the allocation of resources to male versus female reproduction has long been a major goal of evolutionary studies. In this comprehensive synthesis, West makes several important contributions to the field of evolutionary biology... Because the work primarily focuses on how natural selection shapes sex allocation for given sex determination systems, sex allocation is proven an important phenomenon for studying adaptation. This thorough conceptual perspective, blending theory and data, summarizes sex allocation theory and how different areas are applied to different organisms. Choice