All-female asexual populations where offspring are produced without sex would actually be more efficient and produce more life, according to scientists.
Although that doesn’t sound like as much fun, why do we need even need men?
British researchers have determined that males are required for a process known as “sexual selection” which helps species to ward off disease and avoid extinction. It turns out, as it was expressed Monday in the journal Nature, the competition aspect of males fighting to mate with females improves the gene pool and positively affects population health.
Without the need to compete for sex, populations become genetically weaker and vulnerable to dying off.
“Competition among males for reproduction provides a really important benefit, because it improves the genetic health of populations,” professor Matt Gage, who led the work at Britain’s University of East Anglia, told Reuters. “Sexual selection achieves this by acting as a filter to remove harmful genetic mutations, helping populations to flourish and avoid extinction in the long-term.”
Reproduction via sex isn’t the most practical option, really, considering only half of the offspring will be female and capable to carry offspring. But Gage and his researchers explored why males have over time become essential to the equation.
Reuters explained the experiment:
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In their study, Gage’s team evolved Tribolium flour beetles over 10 years under controlled laboratory conditions, where the only difference between populations was the intensity of sexual selection during each adult reproductive stage.
The strength of sexual selection ranged from intense competition — where 90 males competed for only 10 females — through to the complete absence of sexual selection, with monogamous pairings in which females had no choice and males no competition.
After seven years of reproduction, representing about 50 generations, the scientists found that populations where there had been strong sexual selection were fitter and more resilient to extinction in the face of inbreeding.
All of the populations with weak or non-existent sexual selection ended up extinct by the tenth generation.
We now have a new tidbit of knowledge to share when overhearing a disgruntled woman exclaim, “Men! Who needs em’?”
Photo: Flickr user pingnews.com
