Climate-driven shifts in adult sex ratios via sex reversals: the type of sex determination matters.

ABSTRACT: Sex reversals whereby individuals of one genetic sex develop the phenotype of the opposite sex occur in ectothermic vertebrates with genetic sex-determination systems that are sensitive to extreme temperatures during sexual differentiation. Recent rises in global temperatures have led researchers to predict that sex reversals will become more common, resulting in the distortion of many populations' sex ratios. However, it is unclear whether susceptibility to climate-driven sex-ratio shifts depends on the type of sex determination that varies across species. First, we show here using individual-based theoretical models that XX/XY (male-heterogametic) and ZZ/ZW (female-heterogametic) sex-determination systems can respond differentially to temperature-induced sex reversals. Interestingly, the

SUBMITTER: Bokony V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5540865 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature