What do the indices of reproductive skew measure?

The American Naturalist
K Tsuji, E Kasuya

Abstract

Several indices of reproductive skew that quantify the degree of unequal partitioning of reproductive output among individuals have been proposed without consensus on their merits and defects. We believe that the major reason for the disagreement is the lack of discussion on what the population parameter of skew (population skew or true skew) should measure. In our view, the skew index should be an unbiased estimate of a population skew, and the estimated skew needs to satisfy the following two conditions. First, if the group size is equal and the distribution of potential of reproductive output (pi), which is scaled by the proportion of the individual's to the total group reproductive output, is also fixed, skew remains constant even when the total number of offspring in the group changes. Second, if the group size is different, skew should have intuitive biological meaning. Our analyses revealed that, among various indices so far proposed, only the skews estimated by Kokko and Lindström's lambda and Morisita's I(delta) satisfy the first condition. However, the two indices estimate different population parameters, thus implying different biological meanings. Morisita's I(delta) is a linear function of CV(2) (squared coefficien...Continue Reading

References

Oct 3, 1999·The American Naturalist·Hanna KokkoWilliam J Sutherland
Mar 16, 2000·The American Naturalist·H K Reeve
Mar 1, 1994·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·L Keller, H K Reeve
Jul 1, 1998·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·T H Clutton-Brock

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Citations

Apr 15, 2006·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Hanna Kokko, Daniel J Rankin
Jun 16, 2010·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Peter Nonacs, Reinmar Hager
Sep 13, 2003·The American Naturalist·Joseph Haydock, Walter D Koenig
Nov 7, 2007·Theoretical Population Biology·Aline Magdalena LeeBernt-Erik Saether

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