The Fundamental Problems of Sex Allocation Are As Follows (Charnov 1982; West 2009)
- Under what conditions are sequential hermaphroditism, simultaneous hermaphroditism or dioecy evolutionary stable (ES)? When is a mixture of sexual types stable, such as in gynodioecious plant populations, which contain both simultaneous hermaphrodites and females?
- For a dioecious species, should the sex of the offspring be determined by the mother, the environment (environmental sex determination), or randomly (chromosomal sex determination)?
- Given dioecy, what is the ES offspring sex ratio to produce, defined as the proportion of males in a brood?
- For a sequential hermaphrodite, what is the ES sex order (male or female first) and time of sex change?
- For a simultaneous hermaphrodite, what is the equilibrium allocation of resources to male and female reproduction?
- For all breeding systems, when does selection favour the ability of an individual to alter its allocation to male versus female function in response to particular environmental conditions.
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