Search results for "Fitness variance"

Sex Allocation Theory for Facultatively Sexual Organisms Inhabiting Seasonal Environments: The Importance of Bet Hedging

2018

Adaptive explanations for dormancy often invoke bet hedging, where reduced mean fitness can be adaptive if it associates with reduced fitness variance. Sex allocation theory typically ignores variance effects and focuses on mean fitness. For many cyclical parthenogens, these themes become linked, as only sexually produced eggs undergo the dormancy needed to survive harsh conditions. We ask how sex allocation and the timing of sex evolve when this constraint exists in the form of a trade-off between asexual reproduction and sexual production of dormant eggs-the former being crucial for within-season success and the latter for survival across seasons. We show that male production can be tempo…