Sequential hermaphroditism – Why it is so rare in Nature ?
Some animals live as one sex in part of their lifetime and then switch to the other sex, a phenomenon called sequential hermaphroditism.But this phenomenon is quite rare in nature when compared to most animals which are born , live and reproduce as separate sexes. Sequential hermaphroditism naturally occurs in various organisms from plants to fishes and research carried out by various scientists in field came out with some advantages of this phenomenon but rarity of its occurrence in nature still puzzles everyone.
To gain more insights into this question ,Suzanne Alonzo lab in Yale university built theoretical models of the hermaphrodite and separate-sex life histories. 
Caption: Shown clockwise from upper left, the Bluehead wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum), Northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis), Common slipper shell (Crepidula fornicate) and Whip coral goby (Bryaninops yongei) are examples of some animals that change their sex.
Credit: Erem Kazancıoğlu
In their “game” models, sex change “players” vary the age of their sex change, while the separate-sex strategy responds by altering the number of male and female offspring it produces. What surprises the researchers at yale is that a hermaphrodite could spend 30 percent of its lifetime in the process of change sex, and still persist in a population, suggesting that only huge costs can disfavor sex change. So it still remains a puzzle , why the phenomenon is so rare, since analysis conducted by Alonso lab shows the biological “costs” of changing sexes rarely outweigh the advantages. To better understand the phenomenon ,this lab in department of ecology and evolutionary biology ,Yale ,performing a comparative study of hermaphroditic and separate-sex mating systems. A study which they believe might provide some clue for this extremely rare phenomenon .
Related links :
Suzanne Alonzo http://www.yale.edu/eeb/alonzo/
Ecology & evolutionary biology http://www.yale.edu/eeb/
Related Posts:
If you liked what you just read, you may want to subscribe to my
RSS FEED
Thanks for visiting!
Hermafroditismo secuencial: ¿Por qué es tan raro en la naturaleza? (ING)…
Algunos animales viven perteneciendo a un sexo en una etapa de su vida y luego pasarse al otro en un proceso llamado hermafroditismo secuencial, pero sigue siendo un enigma porqué el cambio de sexo es un fenómeno tan raro. Erem Kazancıoğlu de la un…
Some humans also undergo that change
Just kidding…
Btw, How are things Nagraj? Did you pick some French already in your current domicile? (Is the above comment in French?)
Leave your response!
Categories
Archives
Blogroll
Friends