Experimental alteration of litter sex ratios in a mammal

Adaptive theory predicts that mothers would be advantaged by adjusting the sex ratio of their offspring in relation to their offspring's future reproductive success. Studies investigating sex ratio variation in mammals, including humans, have obtained notoriously inconsistent results, except wh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Biological sciences, 2008-02, Vol.275 (1632), p.323-327
Main Authors: Cameron, Elissa Z, Lemons, Patrick R, Bateman, Philip W, Bennett, Nigel C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Blood glucose
Blood Glucose - analysis
Blood Glucose - physiology
Daughters
Dexamethasone - administration & dosage
Female
Glucocorticoids - administration & dosage
Glucose
Glucose - metabolism
Glucose - physiology
Male
Mammals
Maternal Investment
Mating behavior
Mice
Mice - physiology
Parametric models
Reproduction
Reproduction - physiology
Sex Allocation
Sex Ratio
Sons
Trivers-Willard Hypothesis
Ungulates
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Summary:Adaptive theory predicts that mothers would be advantaged by adjusting the sex ratio of their offspring in relation to their offspring's future reproductive success. Studies investigating sex ratio variation in mammals, including humans, have obtained notoriously inconsistent results, except when maternal condition is measured around conception. Several mechanisms for sex ratio adjustment have been proposed. Here, we test the hypothesis that glucose concentrations around conception influence sex ratios. The change in glucose levels resulted in a change in sex ratios, with more daughters being born to females with experimentally lowered glucose, and with the change in glucose levels being more predictive than the glucose levels per se. We provide evidence for a mechanism, which, in tandem with other mechanisms, could explain observed sex ratio variation in mammals.
ISSN:0962-8452
1471-2954
DOI:10.1098/rspb.2007.1401