Journal
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
Volume 7, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-09298-8
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Funding
- Irish Research Council
- Science Foundation Ireland
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Sequentially hermaphroditic fish change sex from male to female (protandry) or vice versa (protogyny), increasing their fitness by becoming highly fecund females or large dominant males, respectively. These life-history strategies present different social organizations and reproductive modes, from nearrandom mating in protandry, to aggregate-and harem-spawning in protogyny. Using a combination of theoretical and molecular approaches, we compared variance in reproductive success (V-k*) and effective population sizes (N-e) in several species of sex-changing fish. We observed that, regardless of the direction of sex change, individuals conform to the same overall strategy, producing more offspring and exhibiting greater V-k* in the second sex. However, protogynous species show greater V-k*, especially pronounced in haremic species, resulting in an overall reduction of N-e compared to protandrous species. Collectively and independently, our results demonstrate that the direction of sex change is a pivotal variable in predicting demographic changes and resilience in sex-changing fish, many of which sustain highly valued and vulnerable fisheries worldwide.
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