Mathematical toy model inspired by the problem of the adaptive origins of the sexual orientation continuum
Same-sex sexual behaviour is ubiquitous in the animal kingdom, but its adaptive origins remain a prominent puzzle. Here, I suggest the possibility that same-sex sexual behaviour arises as a consequence of the competition between an evolutionary drive for a wide diversity in traits, which improves th...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Royal Society
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/108055 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0774-3563 |
| _version_ | 1811097382059769856 |
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| author | Skinner, Brian J |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics Skinner, Brian J |
| author_sort | Skinner, Brian J |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Same-sex sexual behaviour is ubiquitous in the animal kingdom, but its adaptive origins remain a prominent puzzle. Here, I suggest the possibility that same-sex sexual behaviour arises as a consequence of the competition between an evolutionary drive for a wide diversity in traits, which improves the adaptability of a population, and a drive for sexual dichotomization of traits, which promotes opposite-sex attraction and increases the rate of reproduction. This trade-off is explored via a simple mathematical ‘toy model’. The model exhibits a number of interesting features and suggests a simple mathematical form for describing the sexual orientation continuum. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:58:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/108055 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:58:38Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Royal Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1080552022-09-29T22:48:40Z Mathematical toy model inspired by the problem of the adaptive origins of the sexual orientation continuum Skinner, Brian J Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics Skinner, Brian J Same-sex sexual behaviour is ubiquitous in the animal kingdom, but its adaptive origins remain a prominent puzzle. Here, I suggest the possibility that same-sex sexual behaviour arises as a consequence of the competition between an evolutionary drive for a wide diversity in traits, which improves the adaptability of a population, and a drive for sexual dichotomization of traits, which promotes opposite-sex attraction and increases the rate of reproduction. This trade-off is explored via a simple mathematical ‘toy model’. The model exhibits a number of interesting features and suggests a simple mathematical form for describing the sexual orientation continuum. 2017-04-11T19:04:18Z 2017-04-11T19:04:18Z 2016-09 2016-06 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2054-5703 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/108055 Skinner, Brian. “Mathematical Toy Model Inspired by the Problem of the Adaptive Origins of the Sexual Orientation Continuum.” Royal Society Open Science 3.9 (2016): 160403. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0774-3563 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160403 Royal Society Open Science Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Royal Society The Royal Society |
| spellingShingle | Skinner, Brian J Mathematical toy model inspired by the problem of the adaptive origins of the sexual orientation continuum |
| title | Mathematical toy model inspired by the problem of the adaptive origins of the sexual orientation continuum |
| title_full | Mathematical toy model inspired by the problem of the adaptive origins of the sexual orientation continuum |
| title_fullStr | Mathematical toy model inspired by the problem of the adaptive origins of the sexual orientation continuum |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mathematical toy model inspired by the problem of the adaptive origins of the sexual orientation continuum |
| title_short | Mathematical toy model inspired by the problem of the adaptive origins of the sexual orientation continuum |
| title_sort | mathematical toy model inspired by the problem of the adaptive origins of the sexual orientation continuum |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/108055 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0774-3563 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT skinnerbrianj mathematicaltoymodelinspiredbytheproblemoftheadaptiveoriginsofthesexualorientationcontinuum |