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arXiv · 1907.01666

Modelling the evolution of traits in a two-sex population, with an application to grandmothering

M. H. Chan·K. Hawkes·P. S. Kim
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Abstract

We present a mathematical simplification for the evolutionary dynamics of a heritable trait within a two-sex population. This trait is assumed to control the timing of sex-specific life-history events, such as the age of sexual maturity and end of female fertility, and each sex has a distinct fitness tradeoff associated with the trait. We provide a formula for the fitness landscape of the population and show a natural extension of the result to an arbitrary number of heritable traits. Our method can be viewed as a dynamical systems generalisation of the Price Equation to include two sexes{, age structure} and multiple traits. We use this formula to examine the effect of grandmothering, whereby post-fertile females subsidize their daughter's fertility by provisioning grandchildren. Grandmothering can drive a shift towards higher sex ratios due to lengthening female post-fertile longevity, leading to changes in fitness for both sexes. For males, increased longevity is accompanied by a substantially longer fertile lifespan resulting in higher sex ratios in the fertile ages. Our fitness landscapes show a net increase in fitness for both males and females at longer lifespans, and as a result, we find that grandmothering alone provides an evolutionary trajectory to higher longevities.

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M. H. Chan, K. Hawkes, P. S. Kim. 2019-07-02. Modelling the evolution of traits in a two-sex population, with an application to grandmothering. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11538-017-0323-0

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