When several individuals simultaneously provide for offspring, as in families, the effort of any one individual will depend on the efforts of the other family members. This conflict of interest among family members is made more complicated by their relatedness because relatives share genetic interest to some degree. The conflict resolution will also be influenced by the differences in reproduct...

Here, we review recent empirical advances that have improved our understanding of why and when sex change occurs. We show that sex-changing animals use a greater diversity of strategies to increase their reproductive success than was previously recognized: some individuals change sex early, others change sex late, some individuals change sex more than once, and others do not change sex at all. ...

1 Department of Genetics and Animal Breeding, West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Doktora Judyma 6, 71-466 Szczecin, Poland 2 Department of Animal Genetics and Animal Breeding, National Research Institute of Animal Production, Krakowska 1, 32-083 Balice/Kraków, Poland 3 Department of Genetics, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Kożuchowska 7, 51-631 Wrocław...

C.B. Wasike, A.K. Kahi & K.J. Peters 1 Department of Animal Science, School of Agriculture and Food Security, Maseno University, Private Bag, 40105 Maseno, Kenya; 2 Animal Breeding and Genetics Group, Department of Animal Sciences, Egerton University, P.O. Box 536, 20115 Egerton, Kenya; 3 Animal Breeding and Genetics Consultant, Sheep and Goat Association of BerlinBrandenburg, Dieselstr. 10, D ...

Functional markers (FMs) are supposed to assist in diagnosis, disease treatment and turning plant and animal breeding more efficient. However, efficient FM application is challenged through current insights in the multi-organism nature of life. This letter aims to raise awareness for re-thinking concepts for FM development in plant breeding and proposes a novel perspective.