| | |
Summary: Anisogamy, chance and the evolution
of sex roles
Lukas Scha¨rer1
, Locke Rowe2
and Go¨ ran Arnqvist3
1
Evolutionary Biology, Zoological Institute, University of Basel, Vesalgasse 1, CH-4051 Basel, Switzerland
2
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks St., Toronto, Ont, M5S 3G5, Canada
3
Animal Ecology, Department of Ecology and Evolution, Evolutionary Biology Centre, University of Uppsala, Norbyva¨gen 18d,
SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden
Recently, several authors have challenged the view that
anisogamy, the defining feature of the sexes, is an impor-
tant determinant of the evolution of sex roles. Sex roles
are instead suggested to result from chance, or from non-
heritable differences in life histories of females and males.
Here, we take issue with these ideas. We note that ran-
dom processes alone cannot cause consistent differences
between the sexes, and that those differences between
|
