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107 results for “assortative mating”
Data from: Assortative mating by flowering time and its effect on correlated traits in variable environments
Reproductive timing is a key life history trait that impacts the pool of available mates, the environment experienced during flowering, and the expression of other traits through genetic covariation. Selection on phenology, and its consequences on other life history traits, has considerable implications in the context of ongoing climate change and shifting growing seasons. To test this, we grew field-collected seed from the wildflower Mimulus guttatus in a greenhouse to assess the standing genetic variation for flowering time and covariation with other traits. We then created full-sib families through phenological assortative mating and grew offspring in three photoperiod treatments representing seasonal variation in daylength. We find substantial quantitative genetic variation for the onset of flowering time, which covaried with vegetative traits. In the assortatively-mated offspring, we discover over 2-hours variation in critical photoperiod, so that families differed in the probability of flowering across treatments. Allocation to flowering and vegetative growth changed across the daylength treatments, with consistent direction and magnitude of covariation amongst flowering time and other traits. Our results suggest that future studies of flowering time evolution should consider the joint evolution of correlated traits and shifting seasonal selection to understand how environmental variation influences life histories.
Data from: Effects of assortative mate choice on the genomic and morphological structure of a hybrid zone between two bird subspecies
Phenotypic differentiation plays an important role in the formation and maintenance of reproductive barriers. In some cases, variation in a few key aspects of phenotype can promote and maintain divergence; hence the identification of these traits and their associations with patterns of genomic divergence are crucial for understanding the patterns and processes of population differentiation. We studied hybridization between the alba and personata subspecies of the white wagtail (Motacilla alba), and quantified divergence and introgression of multiple morphological traits and 19,437 SNP loci on a 3000 km transect. Our goal was to identify traits that may contribute to reproductive barriers and to assess how variation in these traits corresponds to patterns of genome-wide divergence. Variation in only one trait – head plumage patterning – was consistent with reproductive isolation. Transitions in head plumage were steep and occurred over otherwise morphologically and genetically homogeneous populations, whereas cline centers for other traits and genomic ancestry were displaced over one hundred kilometers from the head cline. Field observational data show that social pairs mated assortatively by head plumage, suggesting that these phenotypes are maintained by divergent mating preferences. In contrast, variation in all other traits and genetic markers could be explained by neutral diffusion, although weak ecological selection cannot be ruled out. Our results emphasize that assortative mating may maintain phenotypic differences independent of other processes shaping genome-wide variation, consistent with other recent findings that raise questions about the relative importance of mate choice, ecological selection and selectively neutral processes for divergent evolution.
Data from: Assortative mating and the maintenance of population structure in a natural hybrid zone
Understanding the factors that give rise to natural hybrid zones and govern their dynamics and structure is important to predicting the evolutionary consequences of hybridization. Here we use a combination of multi-generational population genetic data, mating patterns from a natural population, behavioral assays, and mark-recapture data within clinal hybrid zones of the genus Xiphophorus to test the role of assortative mating in maintaining population structure and the potential for ongoing genetic exchange between heterospecifics. Our data demonstrate that population structure is temporally robust and driven largely by assortative mating stemming from pre-copulatory isolation between pure species. Furthermore, mark-recapture data revealed that rates of migration within the same stream reach are far below the level needed to support population structure. Contrasting with many empirical studies of natural hybrid zones, there appeared to be no hybrid male dysfunction nor discrimination against hybrid males by pure parental females, and hybrid females mated and associated with pure species and hybrid males at random. Despite strong isolation between pure parentals, hybrids therefore can act as a conduit for genetic exchange between heterospecifics, which has been shown to increase the tempo of evolutionary change. Additionally, our findings highlight the complexity of natural hybrid zone dynamics, demonstrating that multivariate selection can give rise to patterns that do not fit classical models of hybrid zone evolution.
Data from: 'Prudent habitat choice': a novel mechanism of size-assortative mating
Assortative mating, an ubiquitous form of nonrandom mating, strongly impacts Darwinian fitness and can drive biological diversification. Despite its ecological and evolutionary importance, the behavioural processes underlying assortative mating are often unknown, and in particular, mechanisms not involving mate choice have been largely ignored so far. Here, we propose that assortative mating can arise from 'prudent habitat choice', a general mechanism that acts under natural selection, and that it can occur despite a complete mixing of phenotypes. We show that in the cichlid Eretmodus cyanostictus size-assortative mating ensues, because individuals of weaker competitive ability ignore high-quality but strongly competed habitat patches. Previous studies showed that in E. cyanostictus, size-based mate preferences are absent. By field and laboratory experiments, here we showed that (i) habitat quality and body size are correlated in this species; (ii) territories with more stone cover are preferred by both sexes in the absence of competition; and (iii) smaller fish prudently occupy vacant territories of worse quality than do larger fish. Prudent habitat choice is likely to be a widespread mechanism of assortative mating, as both preferences for and dominance-based access to high-quality habitats are generic phenomena in animals.
Data from: Linking intra- and interspecific assortative mating: consequences for asymmetric sexual isolation
Assortative mating is of interest because of its role in speciation and the maintenance of species boundaries. However, we know little about how within-species assortment is related to interspecific sexual isolation. Most previous studies of assortative mating have focused on a single trait in males and females, rather than utilizing multivariate trait information. Here we investigate how intraspecific assortative mating relates to sexual isolation in two sympatric and congeneric damselfly species (genus Calopteryx). We connect intraspecific assortment to interspecific sexual isolation by combining field observations, mate preference experiments and enforced copulation experiments. Using canonical correlation analysis, we demonstrate multivariate intraspecific assortment for body size and body shape. Males of the smaller species mate more frequently with heterospecific females than males of the larger species, which showed less attraction to small heterospecific females. Field experiments suggest that sexual isolation asymmetry is caused by male preferences for large heterospecific females, rather than by mechanical isolation due to interspecific size differences or female preferences for large males. Male preferences for large females and male-male competition for high quality females can therefore counteract sexual isolation. This sexual isolation asymmetry therefore indicates that sexual selection currently opposes a species boundary.
Mutual mate choice and assortative mating in relation to a carotenoid-based color trait in blue tits
<p>Choosing an appropriate partner is a critical decision for many animal species. However, many mechanisms involved in mate choice are still poorly understood. Do both males and females choose their sexual partners, do both sexes use the same criteria for choosing, and do their own phenotype influence the choices they make, are questions that need further investigation. Over two successive experiments conducted in captivity with hand-reared blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus), we manipulated the color of the chest plumage, a secondary sexual trait that reflects an individual's condition, to create two different color morphs (one pale and one colored). We then tested whether both sexes express a preference, whether they are attracted to the same morphs, and if the subjects' own chest color influences the preference they show. Our data reveal that both sexes are choosy, with females tending to be slightly choosier than males. We also show that both sexes preferentially select individuals with a pale chest plumage over colorful individuals, and this was again more pronounced in females. Finally, paler individuals tend to be selected by birds that are themselves pale, even if this phenotype matching was not very robust. Such a preference for paler individuals is intriguing since mates are predicted to associate with individuals displaying higher, not lower, value of quality signals. It could result from adaptive mechanisms related to avoidance of aggressiveness in confined environment, avoidance of conflicting sexual signals within individuals, or from cultural mechanisms leading to preference for individuals that match its own phenotype.</p>
Data from: Spatiotemporal segregation by migratory phenotype indicates potential for assortative mating in lake sturgeon
<p>Migratory diversity can promote population differentiation if sympatric phenotypes become temporally, spatially, or behaviorally segregated during breeding. In this study, the potential for spatiotemporal segregation was tested among three migratory phenotypes of lake sturgeon (<em>Acipenser fulvescens</em>) that spawn in the St. Clair River of North America's Laurentian Great Lakes but differ in how often they migrate into the river and in which direction they move after spawning. Acoustic telemetry over nine years monitored use of two major spawning sites by lake sturgeon that moved north to overwinter in Lake Huron or south to overwinter in Lake St. Clair. Lake St. Clair migrants were further distinguished by whether they migrated into the St. Clair River each year (annual migrants) or intermittently (intermittent migrants). Social network analyses indicated lake sturgeon generally co-occurred with individuals of the same migratory phenotype more often than with different migratory phenotypes. A direct test for differences in space use revealed one site was almost exclusively visited by Lake St. Clair migrants whereas the other site was visited by Lake Huron migrants, intermittent Lake St. Clair migrants, and, to a lesser extent, annual Lake St. Clair migrants. Analysis of arrival and departure dates indicated an opportunity for co-occurrence at the site visited by all phenotypes but showed Lake Huron migrants arrived approximately two weeks before Lake St. Clair migrants. Taken together, our results indicated partial spatiotemporal segregation of migratory phenotypes that may generate assortative mating and promote population differentiation.</p>
Data from: Extensive seed and pollen dispersal and assortative mating in the rain forest tree Entandrophragma cylindricum (Meliaceae) inferred from indirect and direct analyses
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Data from: No assortative mating based on size in black guillemots breeding in the Canadian Arctic
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Data from: Female polyandry and size-assortative mating in isolated local populations of the Japanese common toad Bufo japonicus
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Data from: Adaptive, but not condition-dependent, body shape differences contribute to assortative mating preferences during ecological speciation
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Data from: Size matters: male and female mate choice leads to size-assortative pairing in a coral reef cardinalfish
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Data from: Are assortative mating and genital divergence driven by reinforcement?
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Data from: Temporal migration pattern and mating tactics influence size-assortative mating in Rana temporaria
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Data from: Partitioning the effects of spatial isolation, nest habitat, and individual diet in causing assortative mating within a population of threespine stickleback
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Data and code for: Male-male contest limits the expression of assortative mate preferences in a polymorphic poison frog
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Data from: Strong assortative mating by diet, color, size, and morphology but limited progress toward sympatric speciation in a classic example: Cameroon crater lake cichlids
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Data from: Linking intra- and interspecific assortative mating: consequences for asymmetric sexual isolation
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Data from: Size-assortative choice and mate availability influences hybridization between red wolves (Canis rufus) and coyotes (Canis latrans)
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Data from: “Balancing” balancing selection? Assortative mating at the major histocompatibility complex despite molecular signatures of balancing selection
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