Modeling reproductive skew

[Jared Grummer]

Hi Ben,

I looked throughout the manual, discussion group, and lecture materials, but I couldn't find this answer (sorry if it's written somewhere and I missed it!). I'm wondering how reproductive output is modeled in a WF model with sexes? From some of my own simulations, I get distributions of each individual making ~1-7 offspring (similar for both M and F parents), but what results in reproductive skew? It's just a function of random fitness-based weights? How would I modify the distribution to make it skewed to have some individuals making many offspring and some none?

Regarding this, I'm using SLiMulations to check the accuracy of different parentage methods (WF model with sexes), and I'm getting accuracy/results that differ between the sexes and I'm trying to figure out why. Could it come from females always being selected first when generating offspring?

Thanks!

Jared

[Ben Haller]

Hi Jared,

See section 23.2 for the reference doc on this.  Chapter 23 is the reference doc for the WF tick cycle, basically, and chapter 24 for nonWF.

Not sure what you might be observing; hard to tell from your description whether there is any problem or not.  I'd suggest that you read through that section -- or all of chapter 23, perhaps -- and then post again if you still have questions.  If you do, please post your code as well; much easier to figure out what a piece of code is doing if one can see the actual code, of course.  :->

If you want to change the distribution of offspring generation in a model, it is possible to do it with a mateChoice() or modifyChild() callback in a WF model, but it's easier to just write a nonWF model so you have complete control over the reproduction process without having to fight with the WF model's limitations.

Cheers,
-B.

Benjamin C. Haller
Messer Lab
Cornell University


Jared Grummer wrote on 5/31/24 12:50 AM:

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SLiM forward genetic simulation: http://messerlab.org/slim/
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[Jared Grummer]

Thanks, Ben! I started reading last week and then got sidetracked with some other work. I'll look it over and reach out if things aren't making sense after reading the relevant chapters!

Jared