Effective population size in Hymenoptera with complementary sex determination

Abstract

Complementary sex determination in the haplodiploid Hymenoptera leads to the production of inviable or effectively sterile diploid males when diploid progeny are homozygous at the sex-determining locus. The production of diploid males reduces the number of females in a population and biases the effective breeding sex ratio in favor of haploid males. This in turn will reduce the effective population size (Ne) of hymenopteran populations with complementary sex determination relative to the expected reductions due to haplodiploidy alone. The effects of diploid male production on Ne in hymenopterans with complementary sex determination when diploid males are either inviable or effectively sterile are assessed theoretically. In both models, low allelic diversity at the sex locus reduces the Ne of hymenopteran populations, and this effect is largest when diploid males are effectively sterile.