Sexual Conflict in Hermaphrodites

Hermaphrodites combine the male and female sex functions into a single individual, either sequentially or simultaneously. This simple fact means that they exhibit both similarities and differences in the way in which they experience, and respond to, sexual conflict compared to separate-sexed organisms. Here, we focus on clarifying how sexual conflict concepts can be adapted to apply to all anisogamous sexual systems and review unique (or especially important) aspects of sexual conflict in hermaphroditic animals. These include conflicts over the timing of sex change in sequential hermaphrodites, and in simultaneous hermaphrodites, over both sex roles and the postmating manipulation of the sperm recipient by the sperm donor. Extending and applying sexual conflict thinking to hermaphrodites can identify general evolutionary principles and help explain some of the unique reproductive diversity found among animals exhibiting this widespread but to date understudied sexual system.