Publications by authors named "E L Charnov"
Four decades ago, it was proposed that environmental sex determination (ESD) evolves when individual fitness depends on the environment in a sex-specific fashion--a form of condition-dependent sex allocation. Many biological processes have been hypothesized to drive this sex asymmetry, yet a general explanation for the evolution of sex-determining mechanisms remains elusive. Here, we develop a mathematical model for a novel hypothesis of the evolution of ESD, and provide a first empirical test using data across turtles.
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- Some people think that early humans caused the extinction of big animals in the Americas, but it seems unlikely that a few hunters could do that.
- A new model has been created to understand why some big animals disappeared while smaller ones survived, without saying it was just humans hunting them.
- This model looks at different biological factors to explain extinction patterns and can also help predict how animals might be affected by climate change and human activities in the future.
Sexual systems and life history of barnacles: a theoretical perspective.
Integr Comp Biol
September 2012
Thoracican barnacles show one of the most diverse sexual systems in animals: hermaphroditism, dioecy (males and females), and androdioecy (males and hermaphrodites). In addition, when present, male barnacles are very small and are called "dwarf males". The diverse sexual systems and male dwarfism in this taxon have attracted both theoretical and empirical biologists.
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