Presentation Detail

Selection, Sexual

Jiang, Yuexin [1], Bolnick, Daniel [1], Kirkpatrick, Mark [1].

Assortative mating in animals.

Assortative mating occurs when there is a correlation (positive or negative) between male and female phenotypes or genotypes across mated pairs. To determine the typical strength and direction of assortative mating in animals, we carried out a meta-analysis of published measures of assortative mating for a variety of phenotypic and genotypic traits in a diverse set of animal taxa. We focused on the strength of assortment within populations, excluding reproductively isolated populations and species. We collected 1116 published correlations between mated pairs from 254 species (360 unique species-trait combinations) in five phyla. The mean correlation between mates was 0.28, showing an overall tendency towards positive assortative mating within populations. Although 19% of the correlations were negative, simulations suggest that these could represent type I error and that negative assortative mating may be rare. We also find significant differences in the strength of assortment among major taxonomic groups and among trait categories. Specifically, assortative mating is stronger in fish, crustaceans and chelicerates; it is weaker in amphibians and insects. Assortative mating based on phenology, ecotype, visual signals, age, and size tends to be stronger than that based on condition and structural characters. We discuss various possible reasons for the evolution of assortative mating and its implications for speciation.

1 - University of Texas at Austin, Integrative Biology, One University Station C0930, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

Keywords:
assortative mating
disassortative mating
mate choice
non-random mating
the strength of assortative mating
meta-analysis
Speciation
sexual selection
distribution of assortment strength.

Presentation Type: Regular Oral Presentation
Session: 40
Location: Cotton A/Snowbird Center
Date: Saturday, June 22nd, 2013
Time: 3:45 PM
Number: 40002
Abstract ID:72
Candidate for Awards:W.D. Hamilton Award for Outstanding Student Presentation,Student Travel Awards from the ASN