Average sex ratio and population maintenance cost

TL;DR

This paper offers a theoretical explanation for the stable sex ratio in populations, proposing it results from an evolutionary balance between population size and resource limitations.

Contribution

It introduces a mathematical model linking sex ratio stability to population maintenance costs and resource constraints, providing a new perspective on biological sex ratio regulation.

Findings

Sex ratio can be explained as a cost-minimizing outcome.

Population stability is influenced by resource availability.

The model predicts stable sex ratios under certain conditions.

Abstract

The ratio of males to females in a population is a meaningful characteristic of sexual species. The reason for this biological property to be available to the observers of nature seems to be a question never asked. Introducing the notion of historically adapted populations as global minimizers of maintenance cost functions, we propose a theoretical explanation for the reported stability of this feature. This mathematical formulation suggests that sex ratio could be considered as an indirect result shaped by the antagonism between the size of the population and the finiteness of resources.