Understanding hermaphrodite species through game theory.
We investigate the existence and stability of sexual strategies (sequential hermaphrodite, successive hermaphrodite or gonochore) at a proximate level. To accomplish this, we constructed and analyzed a general dynamical game model structured by size and sex. Our main objective is to study how costs of changing sex and of sexual competition should shape the sexual behavior of a hermaphrodite. We prove that, at the proximate level, size alone is insufficient to explain the tendency for a pair of prospective copulants to elect the male sexual role by virtue of the disparity in the energetic costs of eggs and sperm. In fact, we show that the stability of sequential vs. simultaneous hermaphrodite depends on sex change costs, while the stability of protandrous vs. protogynous strategies depends on competition cost.
Université de Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia. amira.kebir@gmail.com.|ENIT-LAMSIN, Université de Tunis el Manar, Tunis, Tunisia. amira.kebir@gmail.com.
Amira
A
Kebir
Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA. fefferman@aesop.rutgers.edu.|The Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science, New Brunswick, NJ, USA. fefferman@aesop.rutgers.edu.
Nina H
NH
Fefferman
ENIT-LAMSIN, Université de Tunis el Manar, Tunis, Tunisia. slimane@ipeit.rnu.tn.|Institut Pasteur de Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia. slimane@ipeit.rnu.tn.
Slimane
S
Ben Miled
D000818:Animals; D012734:Disorders of Sex Development; D005260:Female; D005716:Game Theory; D057850:Hermaphroditic Organisms / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D055641:Mathematical Concepts; D008954:Models, Biological; D019849:Sex Determination Processes / Q000502:physiology; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology
Energy loss; Hermaphrodite strategies; Instantaneous reproductive success; Replicator equation; Stability