STATIC ALLOMETRY AND ANIMAL GENITALIA

Static allometry and animal genitalia.

A survey of 117 species of arthropods and 17 species of vertebrates showed a strong trend for male genitalia to have relatively low static allometric values. This trend contrasts with the allometry of other structures under sexual selection, which usually show steep allometric slopes. The trend to low allometric genital values is less consistent in mammals than in arthropods. Data not in accord...

Comparative growth and static allometry in the genus Chlorocebus

Quantitative genetic variation in static allometry in the threespine stickleback.

The common pattern of replicated evolution of a consistent shape-environment relationship might reflect selection acting in similar ways within each environment, but divergently among environments. However, phenotypic evolution depends on the availability of additive genetic variation as well as on the direction of selection, implicating a bias in the distribution of genetic variance as a poten...

Developmental model of static allometry in holometabolous insects.

The regulation of static allometry is a fundamental developmental process, yet little is understood of the mechanisms that ensure organs scale correctly across a range of body sizes. Recent studies have revealed the physiological and genetic mechanisms that control nutritional variation in the final body and organ size in holometabolous insects. The implications these mechanisms have for the re...

The evolution of static allometry in sexually selected traits.

Although it has been the subject of verbal theory since Darwin, the evolution of morphological trait allometries remains poorly understood, especially in the context of sexual selection. Here we present an allocation trade-off model that predicts the optimal pattern of allometry under different selective regimes. We derive a general solution that has a simple and intuitive interpretation and us...