When a species deviates from a 50:50 sex ratio (male to female), the members of the minority sex often receive a greater proportion of care and resources from parents than do the offspring of the majority sex. Which of the following processes most likely causes this pattern?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This pattern is most likely caused by frequency-dependent selection, where the fitness of a phenotype depends on its frequency relative to other phenotypes in the population. In this case, the rarity of one sex makes it more valuable for reproductive success, leading parents to invest more resources in offspring of the minority sex to maximize their own genetic contribution to future generations.

When a Species Deviates from a 50:50 Sex Ratio (Male