Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yao Hou, Ke Tang, Jingyuan Wang, Danxia Xie, Hanzhe Zhang
Summary: This study provides strong evidence supporting assortative mating based on blood type using a unique dataset of one million Chinese pregnancies.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
M. Fernandez-Meirama, E. Rolan-Alvarez, A. Carvajal-Rodriguez
Summary: In recent years, there has been increasing interest in evolutionary divergence and speciation caused by ecologically based divergent natural selection at small spatial scales. Through individual-based simulations, the evolution of choice values can be observed to match empirical data, and it is found that speciation is influenced by the strength of selection.
FRONTIERS IN GENETICS
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Sarah L. Y. Lau, Gray A. Williams, Antonio Carvajal-Rodriguez, Emilio Rolan-Alvarez
Summary: Size-assortative mating and sexual selection on size are common across species, with mate choice based on size being a widespread process. In studying the size-based mate choice in intertidal snails, it was found that males prefer to mate with slightly larger females, and multiple-choice experiments are valuable in understanding how males choose mates in the wild.
Article
Ecology
E. Keith Bowers
Summary: Woodman et al. investigate age-assortative mating in bird populations with different life-history strategies. They find that in long-lived mute swans, positive age-assortative mating occurs through active mate selection, while in shorter-lived great tits, it is primarily a passive byproduct of demographic processes.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Paulo B. Chaves, Karen B. Strier, Anthony Di Fiore
Summary: Evidence suggests that females, both human and nonhuman primates, avoid breeding with close kin and may choose mates based on MHC diversity. In egalitarian societies like the northern muriquis, female mate choice is less constrained and sires with higher MHC diversity are preferred. However, there is no evidence of mating preference for males who are more distantly related or have more MHC alleles distinct from their own, suggesting that female mate choice may be limited by other factors impacting male fertilization success.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Entomology
Xue-Yuan Di, Bin Yan, Cheng-Xu Wu, Xiao-Fei Yu, Jian-Feng Liu, Mao-Fa Yang
Summary: The study compared the life performance and mating choice of Spodoptera litura reared on different diets, showing significant effects on developmental stages, fecundity, and mate choice. Artificial diet may promote behavioral isolation, impacting mating outcomes. Host plant preference during the larval stage may shape phenotypic plasticity and behavioral isolation in S. litura populations.
Article
Biology
Carrie L. Branch, Joseph F. Welklin, Benjamin R. Sonnenberg, Lauren M. Benedict, Virginia K. Heinen, Angela M. Pitera, Eli S. Bridge, Vladimir V. Pravosudov
Summary: This study compared the spatial cognitive performance and food caching propensity of mountain chickadees in different winter climates to understand how these measures contribute to social mate choice. The findings suggest that cognition and caching propensity may influence social mating decisions, but only in certain environments and for some aspects of cognition.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Jon Richardson, Marlene Zuk
Summary: Research shows that males generally prefer virgin females, even in species with sperm precedence. Although virginity cannot be selected for in terms of female reproductive success, strong preference for virgins may affect selection on other traits. However, caution is needed in assuming male preference for virgins due to unexplained heterogeneity in effect sizes.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Peyton A. Rather, Abigail E. Herzog, David A. Ernst, Erica L. Westerman
Summary: The study found that social experience can influence male mate preference in the butterfly Heliconius melpomene, which has implications for the speciation of butterfly species.
Article
Psychology, Biological
Michael J. Pauers, Jacob A. Grudnowski
Summary: This study examines behavioral reproductive isolation in a pair of rock-dwelling cichlids from Lake Malawi and confirms that females prefer conspecific males, providing further evidence for the role of sexual selection in speciation of cichlid fishes from Lake Malawi.
Article
Ecology
Laura L. Dean, Hannah R. Dunstan, Amelia Reddish, Andrew D. C. MacColl
Summary: Ecological divergence in mating characteristics, particularly nesting microhabitat, may be more important than direct mate choice in maintaining reproductive isolation in stickleback species pairs.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Joe P. P. Woodman, Ella F. F. Cole, Josh A. A. Firth, Christopher M. M. Perrins, Ben C. C. Sheldon
Summary: Age has significant effects on behavior, survival, and reproduction. Age-assortative mating is common, but the mechanisms driving it are not well understood. This study compares breeding data from great tits and mute swans to investigate the contributions of pair retention, cohort age structure, and active age-related mate selection to age assortment. The results show that the drivers of age assortment differ between the species, likely due to their different life histories and demographic differences. Understanding these mechanisms and their consequences is important for wild populations.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Bernadette D. Johnson, Avrie Fox, Landon R. Wright, Ginger E. Carney, Barrie D. Robison, Adam G. Jones
Summary: The African turquoise killifish is the shortest-lived vertebrate research model, suitable for studying sexual selection. Females of this species prefer animated males with specific tail colors, indicating potential for studying genetic basis of preferences and reproductive behaviors. N. furzeri represents an untapped model with stable and repeatable female responses to male animations, making it a promising research tool.
Article
Psychology, Biological
Jiayu Wang, Daiping Wang, Qiuyang Chen, Juan Zhang, Paul Racey, Yiting Jiang, Dongmei Wan, Jiangxia Yin
Summary: This study examines the influence of exploration behavior on mate choice in female Java sparrows. The results show that females prefer high exploratory males as mates, rather than choosing mates based on their own exploration behavior. This finding highlights the importance of male exploration behavior in mate preference in birds.
BEHAVIOURAL PROCESSES
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Katarzyna Pisanski, Maydel Fernandez-Alonso, Nadir Diaz-Simon, Anna Oleszkiewicz, Adrian Sardinas, Robert Pellegrino, Nancy Estevez, Emanuel C. Mora, Curtis R. Luckett, David R. Feinberg
Summary: Height preferences in mate selection differ between genders, with men generally preferring taller female partners. Additionally, men exhibit stronger assortative preferences for height in short-term relationships compared to long-term relationships.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Maria R. Servedio, Reinhard Buerger
Article
Ecology
Roger K. Butlin, Maria R. Servedio, Carole M. Smadja, Claudia Bank, Nicholas H. Barton, Samuel M. Flaxman, Tatiana Giraud, Robin Hopkins, Erica L. Larson, Martine E. Maan, Joana Meier, Richard Merrill, Mohamed A. F. Noor, Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos, Anna Qvarnstrom
Summary: Felsenstein introduced a model in 1981 to explore the role of genetic constraints in speciation. He described the process of speciation through the accumulation of linkage disequilibrium, showing that recombination inhibits speciation. These insights have laid the foundation for empirical and theoretical studies of speciation.
Review
Ecology
Erik Svensson, Stevan J. Arnold, Reinhard Buerger, Katalin Csillery, Jeremy Draghi, Jonathan M. Henshaw, Adam G. Jones, Stephen De Lisle, David A. Marques, Katrina McGuigan, Monique N. Simon, Anna Runemark
Summary: Correlational selection operates on combinations of traits, impacting genomic architecture and evolution across various fields. Integrating evolutionary research in different fields through a genomics lens is key in understanding how correlational selection shapes genetic diversity.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Kuangyi Xu, Maria R. Servedio
Summary: Based on the study, spatial heterogeneity often selects for a shorter flower lifespan, while daily and yearly fluctuations in fitness accrual rates tend to favor greater longevity. However, the correlation between female and male fitness accrual rates seems to have no effect on flower longevity.
JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Janette W. Boughman, Maria R. Servedio
Summary: This paper discusses the influence of sexual selection on displays and preferences in the process of speciation. The study finds that many closely related species show significant differences in categorically different traits, which may be due to reproductive isolation caused by differences in displays and female preferences in different environments. The authors propose a model to explain this phenomenon and highlight the importance of condition-dependent displays and female preferences based on local ecology in speciation.
Article
Ecology
Olivier Cotto, Maria R. Servedio, Troy Day
Summary: The strength of mate choice often varies with age, and this study investigates the evolution of choosiness and its potential impact on speciation. Using a population-genetic model, the researchers demonstrate that speciation can result in age-specific choosiness when mating traits are under divergent ecological selection. However, the evolution of age-specific choosiness does not significantly affect overall reproductive isolation.
Article
Ecology
Brian A. Lerch, Trevor D. Price, Maria R. Servedio
Summary: This article discusses the evolutionary theory of divorce (ending a socially monogamous pairing to find a new partner) and presents a model of female divorce in a heterogeneous environment. The study found that increasing environmental heterogeneity, decreasing benefit of pair experience, and moderate survival rates favor the evolution of higher divorce rates.
AMERICAN NATURALIST
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Martin Pontz, Reinhard Buerger
Summary: This study investigates the invasion probability of new mutations in a peripheral population using a migration model. The results show that the invasion probability is affected by linkage, epistasis, and gene flow, but not necessarily by recombination rate. The study also explores the size of genomic islands of divergence and reveals that it is influenced by migration rate and epistatic effect.
THEORETICAL POPULATION BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Brian A. Lerch, Maria R. Servedio
Summary: The presence of same-sex sexual behavior across the animal kingdom is often seen as surprising. One possible explanation is indiscriminate mating, where individuals do not try to determine the sex of potential partners before copulation. This strategy is believed to be an ancestral mode of reproduction and can be a beneficial strategy considering the costs of selective mating. It is important to note that sex discrimination requires not only the attempt to differentiate between sexes, but also some detectable difference (a signal or cue). Based on modeling of mating behavior, it is found that under various parameters, including some with minor costs, indiscriminate mating and the absence of sexual signals can be an evolutionary endpoint. Additionally, the absence of both sex discrimination and sexual signals is always evolutionarily stable. These findings suggest that the observable differences between sexes likely arose as a by-product of the evolution of different sexes, allowing for the evolution of sex discrimination.
AMERICAN NATURALIST
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Kuangyi Xu, Brian A. Lerch, Maria R. Servedio
Summary: Sexual selection has a long history of mathematical modeling to understand why certain traits are preferred over others and what drives the evolution of preference strength. This study develops baseline models for the evolution of preference strength using both population and quantitative genetic approaches. The results reveal that the strength of preference can evolve to be stronger when trait variation is maintained by mutation, but can also be influenced by other factors such as drift and fitness selection.
Article
Biology
Thomas G. Aubier, Reinhard Buerger, Maria R. Servedio
Summary: When populations come into secondary contact, speciation with gene flow can be promoted by 'magic trait' loci, which are pleiotropic loci subject to divergent ecological selection and non-random mating. In this study, a population genetics model is used to investigate the effectiveness of 'pseudomagic trait' complexes, physically linked loci with the same functions, in promoting premating isolation. Surprisingly, pseudomagic trait complexes, as well as physically unlinked loci, can lead to stronger assortative mating preferences compared to magic traits, as long as polymorphism is maintained.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Brian. A. A. Lerch, Maria. R. R. Servedio
Summary: Predation plays a role in preventing the evolution of complicated sexual displays due to the increased predation risk. However, current sexual selection theory lacks consideration of the density-dependent nature of predation in modeling the costs of sexually selected traits. This study integrates population and quantitative genetic models to explicitly link sexual display evolution with predator-prey dynamics, revealing that predation can drive eco-evolutionary cycles in sexually selected traits and maintain variation in sexual displays.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Emily H. Duval, Courtney L. Fitzpatrick, Elizabeth A. Hobson, Maria R. Servedio
Summary: Sexual selection through mate choice is a powerful force that can lead to evolutionary change. Existing models of mate choice fail to fully explain why females choose particular mates. This study proposes a new model, Inferred Attractiveness, which suggests that females acquire mating preferences by observing others' choices and use context-dependent information to infer which traits are attractive. This model captures novel aspects of sexual selection and reconciles inconsistencies between mate choice theory and observed behavior.
Article
Ecology
Brian A. Lerch, Maria R. Servedio
Summary: Research suggests that indiscriminate sexual behavior may be an evolutionary advantage, as indiscriminate mating is shown to be the optimal strategy under a wide range of conditions. This has implications for the evolution of same-sex sexual behavior and discriminate sexual behavior across the animal kingdom.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2021)