Can't live with them, can't live without them? Balancing mating and competition in two-sex populations.

ABSTRACT: Two-sex populations are usually studied through frequency-dependent models that describe how sex ratio affects mating, recruitment and population growth. However, in two-sex populations, mating and recruitment should also be affected by density and by its interactions with the sex ratio. Density may have positive effects on mating (Allee effects) but negative effects on other demographic processes. In this study, we quantified how positive and negative inter-sexual interactions balance in two-sex populations. Using a dioecious grass (Poa arachnifera), we established experimental field populations that varied in density and sex ratio. We then quantified mating success (seed fertilization) and non-mating demographic performance, and integrated these responses to project population-lev

SUBMITTER: Compagnoni A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5666111 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature