Models of kin selection on seed provisioning

Abstract

ESS models support the prediction of Westoby and Rice (1982) and Queller (1983), based on relatedness arguments, that genes affecting the amount of parental resources to be invested in seeds will be selected towards different outcomes, depending on the tissue in which they are expressed. In order of decreasing “preference” for investment in their own seed, the tissues generally rank as: embryo, endosperm, gametophyte, maternal plant. A more detailed model reveals that whether or not selection will favour an endosperm allele for taking more investment depends on frequency and dosage. These effects are analogous to those arising from inbreeding in other kin selection models, and they disappear when a covariance form of the relatedness coefficient is used. © 1984 The Genetical Society of Great Britain.