Methods are described for the maximum likelihood estimation of mating preferences in models of assortative mating for monogamous and polygamous organisms. These methods are applied to data of matings of the three phenotypes, pale, intermediated and dark of the Arctic Skua. The data were obtained by exhaustive surveys of the Arctic Skua populations on the islands of Fair Isle and Foula. The data give evidence of significant assortative mating of pale birds on Foula and intermediate birds on Fair Isle. The combined data show that there is very highly significant assortative mating, but only of intermediates. In previous surveys, data, in which intermediates and darks were not distinguished, were obtained from a number of islands in the Shetlands. These data, combined with the present data, show that the overall assortative mating of pale is very highly significant with no evidience of heterogeneity. The assortative mating of intermediate birds on Fair Isle agrees with other evidence showing that inermediate males have an advantage as a result of sexual selection.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1976.28 | DOI Listing |
Nat Commun
January 2025
Florida Museum of Natural History, Dickinson Hall, 1659 Museum Road, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA.
The Thorny Skate (Amblyraja radiata) is a vulnerable species displaying a discrete size-polymorphism in the northwest Atlantic Ocean (NWA). We conducted whole genome sequencing of samples collected across its range. Genetic diversity was similar at all sampled sites, but we discovered a ~ 31 megabase bi-allelic supergene associated with the size polymorphism, with the larger size allele having introgressed in the last ~160,000 years B.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Chem Ecol
January 2025
Department Plant Protection Biology, SLU Alnarp, Lomma, Sweden.
The great diversity of specialist plant-feeding insects suggests that host plant shifts may initiate speciation, even without geographic barriers. Pheromones and kairomones mediate sexual communication and host choice, and the response to these behaviour-modifying chemicals is under sexual and natural selection, respectively. The concept that the interaction of mate signals and habitat cues facilitates reproductive isolation and ecological speciation is well established, while the traits and the underlying sensory mechanisms remain unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTranslocating individuals from multiple source populations is one way to bolster genetic variation and avoid inbreeding in newly established populations. However, mixing isolated populations, especially from islands, can potentially lead to outbreeding depression and/or assortative mating, which may limit interbreeding between source populations. Here, we investigated genetic consequences of mixing individuals from two island populations of the dibbler () in an island translocation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFR Soc Open Sci
January 2025
Fisheries Research Station Baden-Württemberg, Argenweg 50/1, 88085 Langenargen, Germany.
Adaptive divergence and increased genetic differentiation among populations can lead to reproductive isolation. In Lake Constance, Germany, a population of invasive three-spined stickleback () is currently diverging into littoral and pelagic ecotypes, which both nest in the littoral zone. We hypothesized that assortative mating behaviour contributes to reproductive isolation between these ecotypes and performed a behavioural experiment in which females could choose between two nest-guarding males.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Biol Macromol
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Mariculture Breeding, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China; Fujian Key Laboratory of Genetics and Breeding of Marine Organisms, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China. Electronic address:
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