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On the moulding of senescence by natural selection in sexual and partly sexual populations

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Abstract

Under a wide variety of dynamic environmental conditions, natural selection appears to favor reproductive investment in a sexually produced offspring, carrying only half of the mother’s genes, over the investment in an asexually produced offspring, genetically identical to her. It is maintained that the same environmental conditions must affect the evolutionary cost and benefit of an investment in the prolongation of one’s own life versus an investment in sexual reproduction, in favor of the latter. The effects of different environmental conditions on the division of resources among sexual reproduction, asexual reproduction and prolongation of life are studied.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Statistics, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, School of Mathematical Sciences, Tel Aviv University, 69978, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Ilan Eshel

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  1. Ilan Eshel
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Eshel, I. On the moulding of senescence by natural selection in sexual and partly sexual populations. J. Genet. 69, 33–44 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02931665

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