The nature of gain curves.
Burd M.
Plant Reproduction
If you've ever wondered why some flowering plants shower the air with pollen while others invest heavily in nectar and seeds, the theoretical framework scientists have used to explain that tradeoff may be fundamentally broken — and finding the real answer could reshape how we understand plant mating systems in your garden and the wild.
Scientists have used 'gain curves' for decades to explain how plants and animals split their energy between male and female reproduction — like why some plants make tons of pollen but few seeds. This paper argues those models contain a hidden flaw: they assume mating opportunities exist outside the population, which is impossible in reality. Because of this, the predictions these models make — including explanations for why wind-pollinated plants invest more in pollen than animal-pollinated ones — may be based on faulty logic, and better explanations likely involve how organisms compete locally for mates and how their offspring disperse.
Key Findings
Gain curve models assume an external 'bank' of mating opportunities that cannot exist in real populations, making their predictions biologically impossible at the population level.
Models built on fixed gain curves can predict unequal total fitness for male versus female function, an outcome that is impossible given the biology of fertilization (each offspring requires one of each).
Local mating competition and sex-specific dispersal patterns are proposed as more biologically valid alternative explanations for observed patterns like low male investment in self-pollinating hermaphrodites or higher pollen output in wind-pollinated plants.
chevron_right Technical Summary
A new critique argues that 'gain curves' — a long-used theoretical tool in evolutionary biology — are mathematically flawed when applied to whole populations, meaning decades of explanations for why plants and animals allocate resources between male and female reproduction may need to be reconsidered.
Abstract Preview
Gain curves have been a staple of sex allocation theory for decades. They represent patterns in which fitness is obtained from resource investments in reproductive functions. The monotonic forms th...
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