Sexual systems and dwarf males in barnacles: Integrating life history and sex allocation theories

Barnacles, which are sedentary marine crustaceans, have diverse sexual systems that include simultaneous hermaphroditism, androdioecy (coexistence of hermaphrodites and males) and dioecy (females and males). In dioecious and androdioecious species, the males are very small and are thus called dwarf males. These sexual systems are defined by two factors: sex allocation of non-dwarf individuals and the presence or absence of dwarf males. We constructed an ESS model treating sex allocation and life history simultaneously to explain sexual systems in barnacles. We analyzed the evolutionarily stable size-dependent resource allocation strategy to male reproductive function, female reproductive function and growth in non-dwarf barnacles, and the ESS proportion of dwarf males, under conditions of varying mortality and food availability. Sex allocation in non-dwarf individuals (hermaphrodites or females) is affected by mate availability and the proportion of dwarf males. When hermaphrodites appear, all hermaphrodites become protandric simultaneous hermaphrodites. Furthermore, high mortality and poor resource availability favor dwarf males because of their early maturation and weakened sperm competition. In conclusion, we showed that combining sex allocation and life history theories is a useful way to understand various sexual systems in barnacles and perhaps in other organisms as well. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.