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Anisogamy, Expenditure of Reproductive Effort, and the Optimality of Having Two Sexes

Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan, 1205 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan, 1205 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Yale Law School, Box 208215, New Haven, Connecticut 06520
School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
mepelman{at}umich.edu
spollock{at}umich.edu
brian.netter{at}yale.edu
bobbilow{at}umich.edu

No good formal arguments exist for a central question in biology: Why, in species that have sexual reproduction, are there usually only "males" and "females"? We present a nonlinear optimization model that supports the conclusion that having only two sexes maximizes long-run viability.

Subject classifications: programming:nonlinear/quadratic; mathematics:convexity; modeling:applications in biology/sexual reproduction.
History: Received December 2002; revision received January 2004; accepted March 2004.