If C is greater, both more females can be fertilized and the proportion of males
required for doing it is less (try that “experiment”). If C were considerably smaller,
such that it was extremely difficult for females to attract males or males to find
females (a function of population density, search volumes, and much else), then the
maximum number of fertilized females would be highest with a strong majority of
males (try that, too).
Fig. 4.13 Output from an individual-based model of copepod mating encounter rates
at varying sex ratios represented as proportion of males.
(^) There is an evolutionary aspect to this problem. If males are relatively few, and
search problems or female behavior limit the number of matings, then those males are
likely to participate as gene providers to more zygotes than females (each zygote has
only one father and one mother). Thus, in the experiment of Fig. 4.13 at 10% males, a
majority were partners in the egg output of three or more females (Fig. 4.14).
Fig. 4.14 Proportions of males failing to mate, mating once, twice, etc. for the
encounter conditions of Fig. 4.13 when there are 10% and 50% males at maturation.