On the optimal sex-ratio: A stability analysis based on a characterization for one-locus multiallele viability models (Q762005)

In this paper a model of sex-determination based on the genotype at an autosomal locus in a bisexual population is considered. The model assumes discrete generations, random mating, Mendelian segregation and equal fertility for all mating types. With each genotype, probabilities of being male or female are associated. Two types of equilibria are distinguished: symmetric equilibria exhibiting identical allelic frequencies in males and females, and even-sex-ratio equilibria with an equal representation of males and females in the population, i.e. a sex ratio of 1/2. The first part of the theory is concerned with equilibria and stability in one-locus multi-allele viability models. Let \(B(p)=D_ pM+D_{Mp}\), where p is the vector of allelic frequencies, M is the viability matrix and \(D_ p\) denotes the diagonal matrix with the components of p in the main diagonal. Furthermore, \(\rho\) (p) is defined as the spectral radius of the matrix B(p), i.e. the eigenvalue of largest magnitude of B(p) (which exists under certain assumptions). The polymorphic equilibria for the viability model correspond to critical points of the function \(\rho\) (p), and locally stable equilibria correspond to strict local maxima of \(\rho\) (p). These results are used to obtain stability criteria for the sex- determination model M (where \(m_{ij}\) is the probability for an \(A_ iA_ j\)-individual to be male). It is shown that a symmetric interior equilibrium with sex ratio \(<1/2\) (or \(>1/2)\) is stable if and only if it is stable for the corresponding one-locus viability model M (or U-M, U denotes the matrix with all unit entries). Even-sex-ratio equilibria, on the other side, are part of an equilibrium surface of dimension r-2 (in the simplex of frequency vectors of dimension r-1, where r is the number of alleles at the locus). Thus, only for the case of two alleles the even-sex-ratio equilibria are isolated points. Moreover, several optimality properties of the even-sex- ratio equilibrium surfaces are deduced. An interior stable symmetric equilibrium cannot coexist with an even-sex-ratio equilibrium and any other stable symmetric equilibrium.