Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Evolutionary biology

Why reproduction often takes two

Nature volume 462, pages 294–295 (2009)Cite this article

On the face of it, self-fertilization is the efficient way to breed: compared with outcrossing, there's usually much less fuss, for a start. So why isn't reproduction by selfing far more prevalent than it is?

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Fit for evolutionary studies — the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

DENNIS KUNKEL MICROSCOPY, INC./VISUALS UNLIMITED/CORBIS

References

  1. Fisher, R. A. Ann. Eugen. 11, 53–63 (1941).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Lively, C. M. & Lloyd, D. G. Am. Nat. 135, 489–500 (1990).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Goodwillie, C., Kalisz, S. & Eckert, C. G. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 36, 47–79 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Jarne, P. & Auld, J. R. Evolution 60, 1816–1824 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Morran, L. T., Parmenter, M. D. & Phillips, P. C. Nature 462, 350–352 (2009).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Lande, R. & Schemske, D. W. Evolution 39, 24–40 (1985).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Charlesworth, D., Morgan, M. T. & Charlesworth, B. Evolution 44, 1469–1489 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Haldane, J. B. S. The Causes of Evolution (Harper, 1932; reprinted with introduction and afterword by E. G. Leigh, Princeton Univ. Press, 1990).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Peck, J. Genetics 137, 597–606 (1994).

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Colegrave, N. Nature 420, 664–666 (2002).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Goddard, M. R., Godfray, H. C. J. & Burt, A. Nature 434, 636–640 (2005).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Agrawal, A. F. Curr. Biol. 16, R696–R704 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aneil F. Agrawal is in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B2, Canada. a.agrawal@utoronto.ca,

    Aneil F. Agrawal

Authors
  1. Aneil F. Agrawal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Agrawal, A. Why reproduction often takes two. Nature 462, 294–295 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/462294a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/462294a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing