Parasite stress predicts offspring sex ratio.

In this study, I predict that the global variation of offspring sex ratio might be influenced in part by the level of parasite stress. From an energetic standpoint, higher gestational costs of producing a male offspring could decrease male births in a population with limited resources. This implies...

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Autor principal:	Madhukar Shivajirao Dama
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/c7901a8ee74e41639b04e3a5e2fe587f
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:c7901a8ee74e41639b04e3a5e2fe587f2021-11-18T08:13:50ZParasite stress predicts offspring sex ratio.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0046169https://doaj.org/article/c7901a8ee74e41639b04e3a5e2fe587f2012-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23049967/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203In this study, I predict that the global variation of offspring sex ratio might be influenced in part by the level of parasite stress. From an energetic standpoint, higher gestational costs of producing a male offspring could decrease male births in a population with limited resources. This implies that, any factor that limits the parental resources could be expected to favor female offspring production. Human sex ratio at birth (SRB) is believed to be influenced by numerous socioeconomic, biological, and environmental factors. Here, I test a prediction that parasite stress, by virtue of its effects on the general health condition, may limit the parental investment ability and therefore could influence the SRB at the population level. The statistical analysis supports this prediction, and show that the level of parasite stress has a significant inverse relation with population SRB across the world. Further, this relation is many-folds stronger than the association of SRB with other factors, like; polygyny, fertility, latitude, and son-preference. Hence, I propose that condition affecting ability of parasites (but not adaptive significance) could be a likely causal basis for the striking variation of SRB across populations.Madhukar Shivajirao DamaPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 9, p e46169 (2012)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Madhukar Shivajirao Dama Parasite stress predicts offspring sex ratio.
description	In this study, I predict that the global variation of offspring sex ratio might be influenced in part by the level of parasite stress. From an energetic standpoint, higher gestational costs of producing a male offspring could decrease male births in a population with limited resources. This implies that, any factor that limits the parental resources could be expected to favor female offspring production. Human sex ratio at birth (SRB) is believed to be influenced by numerous socioeconomic, biological, and environmental factors. Here, I test a prediction that parasite stress, by virtue of its effects on the general health condition, may limit the parental investment ability and therefore could influence the SRB at the population level. The statistical analysis supports this prediction, and show that the level of parasite stress has a significant inverse relation with population SRB across the world. Further, this relation is many-folds stronger than the association of SRB with other factors, like; polygyny, fertility, latitude, and son-preference. Hence, I propose that condition affecting ability of parasites (but not adaptive significance) could be a likely causal basis for the striking variation of SRB across populations.
format	article
author	Madhukar Shivajirao Dama
author_facet	Madhukar Shivajirao Dama
author_sort	Madhukar Shivajirao Dama
title	Parasite stress predicts offspring sex ratio.
title_short	Parasite stress predicts offspring sex ratio.
title_full	Parasite stress predicts offspring sex ratio.
title_fullStr	Parasite stress predicts offspring sex ratio.
title_full_unstemmed	Parasite stress predicts offspring sex ratio.
title_sort	parasite stress predicts offspring sex ratio.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2012
url	https://doaj.org/article/c7901a8ee74e41639b04e3a5e2fe587f
work_keys_str_mv	AT madhukarshivajiraodama parasitestresspredictsoffspringsexratio
_version_	1718422071397056512

Parasite stress predicts offspring sex ratio.

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