Evolutionary optimality in sex differences of longevity and athletic performances

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 4; no. 1; p. 5425
• Main Authors: Asanuma, Hiromi, Kakishima, Satoshi, Ito, Hiromu, Kobayashi, Kazuya, Hasegawa, Eisuke, Asami, Takahiro, Matsuura, Kenji, Roff, Derek A., Yoshimura, Jin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 24.06.2014; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/158/856; 631/158/857; 631/181/2468; 631/601/18; Algorithms; Animals; Athletic Performance - physiology; Biological Evolution; Evolution; Female; Gender differences; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Longevity; Longevity - physiology; Male; Models, Biological; multidisciplinary; Reproduction - physiology; Reproductive effort; Science; Sex differences; Sex Factors; Sexual Behavior, Animal - physiology; Survival
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep05425

Many sexual differences are known in human and animals. It is well known that females are superior in longevity, while males in athletic performances. Even though some sexual differences are attributed to the evolutionary tradeoff between survival and reproduction, the aforementioned sex differences are difficult to explain by this tradeoff. Here we show that the evolutionary tradeoff occurs among three components: (1) viability, (2) competitive ability and (3) reproductive effort. The sexual differences in longevity and athletic performances are attributed to the tradeoff between viability (survival) and competitive ability that belongs to the physical makeup of an individual, but not related to the tradeoff between survival and reproduction. This provides a new perspective on sex differences in human and animals: females are superior in longevity and disease recovery, while males are superior in athletic performance.