Abstract
Complex coevolutionary feedbacks between female mating interval and male sperm traits have been hypothesized to explain the evolution and persistence of costly polyandry. Such feedbacks could potentially arise because polyandry creates sperm competition and consequent selection on male allocation to sperm traits, while the emerging sperm traits could create female sperm limitation and, hence, impose selection for increased polyandry. However, the hypothesis that costly polyandry could coevolve with male sperm dynamics has not been tested. We built a genetically explicit individual-based model to simulate simultaneous evolution of female mating interval and male allocation to sperm number versus longevity, where these two sperm traits trade off. We show that evolution of competing sperm traits under polyandry can indeed cause female sperm limitation and, hence, promote further evolution and persistence of costly polyandry, particularly when sperm are costly relative to the degree of female sperm limitation. These feedbacks were stronger, and greater polyandry evolved, when postcopulatory competition for paternity followed a loaded rather than fair raffle and when sperm traits had realistically low heritability. We therefore demonstrate that the evolution of allocation to sperm traits driven by sperm competition can prevent males from overcoming female sperm limitation, thereby driving ongoing evolution of costly polyandry.
Highlights
Metal−organic frameworks (MOFs) constitute a new generation of porous crystalline materials, which are composed of metals or small clusters of metal sites connected by organic functional groups as linkers
To find the most likely binding site for the ionic liquid to interact with the MOF, it would be interesting to understand the localization of electron density within the MOF structure
It was found that the confinement of the ionic liquid (IL) in the MOF perturbs the symmetry of the MOF
Summary
Metal−organic frameworks (MOFs) constitute a new generation of porous crystalline materials, which are composed of metals or small clusters of metal sites connected by organic functional groups as linkers. MOFs are of great interest because of their exceptionally large surface areas, large pore volume, remarkable storage capacity, and controlled pore textures. They have recently received much attention because of their excellent properties for gas purification, catalysis, molecular sensing, and hydrogen storage.[1−6] MOFs are promising materials for the separation of gas mixtures, for example in the field of carbon capture and storage (CCS). The use of ionic liquids to replace organic solvents in biocatalytic processes has received much attention.[21,22]
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