Simulating Male Selfish Strategy in Reproduction Dispute

TL;DR

This paper extends the Penna Model for biological aging by incorporating a male reproductive strategy that enhances sperm competition, revealing a phase transition related to population survival.

Contribution

It introduces a new male selfish mechanism into the Penna Model and analyzes its impact on population dynamics and survival.

Findings

Selfish male strategy increases reproductive success.

A dynamic phase transition occurs with population extinction.

The mechanism can decrease overall female population survival.

Abstract

We introduce into the Penna Model for biological ageing one of the possible male mechanisms used to maximize the ability of their sperm to compete with sperm from other males. Such a selfish mechanism increases the male reproduction success but may decrease the survival probability of the whole female population, depending on how it acts. We also find a dynamic phase transition induced by the existence of an absorbing state where no selfish males survive.