Experimental alteration of litter sex ratios in a mammal

被引：89

作者：

Cameron, Elissa Z. ^{[1
]}

Lemons, Patrick R. ^{[2
]}

Bateman, Philip W. ^{[1
]}

Bennett, Nigel C. ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] Univ Pretoria, Mammal Res Inst, Dept Zool, ZA-0002 Pretoria, South Africa

[2] Univ Nevada, Dept Nat Resources & Environm Sci, Reno, NV 89512 USA

来源：

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES | 2008年 / 275卷 / 1632期

关键词：

Trivers-Willard hypothesis; sex allocation; glucose; maternal investment;

D O I：

10.1098/rspb.2007.1401

中图分类号：

Q [生物科学];

学科分类号：

07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;

摘要：

Adaptive theory predicts that mothers would be advantaged by adjusting the sex ratio of their offspring in relation to their offspring's future reproductive success. Studies investigating sex ratio variation in mammals, including humans, have obtained notoriously inconsistent results, except when maternal condition is measured around conception. Several mechanisms for sex ratio adjustment have been proposed. Here, we test the hypothesis that glucose concentrations around conception influence sex ratios. The change in glucose levels resulted in a change in sex ratios, with more daughters being born to females with experimentally lowered glucose, and with the change in glucose levels being more predictive than the glucose levels per se. We provide evidence for a mechanism, which, in tandem with other mechanisms, could explain observed sex ratio variation in mammals.

引用

页码：323 / 327

页数：5

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