Rainfall linked to skewed sex ratios
Thursday, April 22, 2010 - 18:21
in Biology & Nature
An increased proportion of male African buffalo are born during the rainy season. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology collected data from over 200 calves and 3000 foetuses, finding that rain likely exerts this effect by interaction with so-called sex ratio (SR) genes, which cause differences in number, quality or function of X- and Y-bearing sperm.