Juvenile and total reproductive values for sexual reproduction under any genetic system.

Abstract

Reproductive value (RV) is the expected contribution of genes by an individual or class of individuals to the gene pool in the distant future, and it plays a crucial role in understanding adaptation in long-term evolution. Class RVs are linked to the genetic system and to life history: for diploid genetics, Grafen derived expressions for relative RVs of female and male juveniles, and for the absolute RVs of all females and of all males. Subsequently, Gardner presented a derivation for relative RVs of juvenile females and males under haplodiploidy. Here we generalise these results to any genetic system for biparental sexual reproduction, such that RV is explicitly linked to parameters of the genetic system and life history. The earlier results by Grafen and Gardner arise as special cases. Finally, we derive expressions for absolute juvenile and total reproductive values of both sexes under any genetic system.