Anisogamy, chance and the evolution of sex roles

Recently, several authors have challenged the view that anisogamy, the defining feature of the sexes, is an important determinant of the evolution of sex roles. Sex roles are instead suggested to result from chance, or from non-heritable differences in life histories of females and males. Here, we t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Trends in ecology & evolution (Amsterdam) 2012-05, Vol.27 (5), p.260-264
Main Authors:	Schärer, Lukas, Rowe, Locke, Arnqvist, Göran
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Animal and plant ecology Animal, plant and microbial ecology Animals Applied ecology Biological and medical sciences Biological Evolution Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife Environment Female Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology General aspects Male Models, Genetic Selection, Genetic Sex Characteristics Sexual Behavior, Animal
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	Recently, several authors have challenged the view that anisogamy, the defining feature of the sexes, is an important determinant of the evolution of sex roles. Sex roles are instead suggested to result from chance, or from non-heritable differences in life histories of females and males. Here, we take issue with these ideas. We note that random processes alone cannot cause consistent differences between the sexes, and that those differences between the sexes in life histories that affect the sex roles are themselves the result of sex-specific selection that can ultimately be traced back to anisogamy. To understand sex roles, one should ask how environmental variation and female–male coevolution cause variation in sex-specific selection in the light of anisogamy.
ISSN:	0169-5347 1872-8383 1872-8383