March 07, 2023
Callan Padron
A contemporary review of the ecology and evolution of environmental sex determination
Abstract
This article is a review of past and current literature on the study of environmental sex determination. Environmental sex determination (ESD) is a mechanism of sex determination in both plants and animals, which is influenced by the surrounding environmental conditions. These conditions range in a variety of environmental cues that influence this determination to occur. ESD is an alternative to genetic sex determination (GSD) and hermaphroditism, the former of which occurs as the most dominant form of sex determination in both plants and animals. This article aims to compile the evolution of our understanding of this unique method of sex determination, as well as the biological evolution of the method itself. This method has profound effects on the species that utilize it and begs the question of why this method is used over others, namely, GSD. This article will describe some of the main cues involved in ESD and provide examples of species that have evolved this method and how they can be expected to be impacted by a changing environment.
Key words: Environmental sex determination, temperature, genetic sex determination, sex allocation theory, sequential hermaphroditism, sex ratios.