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Related Concept Videos

Mate Choice01:20

Mate Choice

Mate choice—the decision about whom to mate with—is a type of natural selection, since animals must reproduce to pass down their genes. Mate choice is also called intersexual selection because the behavior occurs between the sexes.
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A species is a group of organisms that interbreed and produce fertile offspring. Typically, individuals of the same species appear similar and share common characteristics due to their highly similar genomes. However, not all organisms that look alike are members of the same species. Various mechanisms keep most species discrete. While some mechanisms prevent reproductive behavior and fertilization (pre-zygotic isolation), others prevent the production of fertile offspring after mating has...
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Organisms must balance energy intake with the energy required for growth, maintenance, and reproduction. These trade-offs result in a variety of survivorship and reproductive strategies, including semelparity and iteroparity. Semelparous species reproduce only once in their lifetime, often investing most available resources into that single reproductive event. Iteroparous species, by contrast, reproduce multiple times over their lifetimes, typically allocating fewer resources to any single...
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The principle of natural selection posits that organisms better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. This principle is closely intertwined with mating preferences, a key aspect of sexual selection, which evolutionary psychologists believe is driven by instincts to propagate one's genes. Such instincts significantly influence mating behaviors and preferences between genders.
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Speciation can proceed at markedly different rates, and evolutionary biologists commonly describe these differences through the models of gradualism and punctuated equilibrium. Both patterns explain how new species arise, but they differ in the tempo and continuity of evolutionary change. In both cases, evolutionary change arises from heritable variation within populations, with natural selection often shaping traits that improve survival and reproduction under specific environmental conditions.

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Passerine extrapair mating dynamics: a bayesian modeling approach comparing four species.

Jon E Brommer1, Jussi S Alho, Clotilde Biard

  • 1Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland. jon.brommer@helsinki.fi

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Female birds sometimes mate outside their pair bond, leading to extrapair young (EPY). Study reveals ecological factors drive mating tendencies, while fertilization success is species-specific.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Behavioral ecology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Socially monogamous animals often exhibit female extrapair copulation (EPC), resulting in broods with both within-pair and extrapair young (EPY).
  • The proportion of EPY varies significantly across populations and species, reflecting differences in EPC frequency and extrapair fertilization (EPF) success.
  • Understanding these variations is crucial for comprehending mating systems and reproductive strategies in animals.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the factors influencing the occurrence of extrapair young (EPY) in four passerine species.
  • To differentiate between population-specific and species-specific influences on extrapair copulation (EPC) and extrapair fertilization (EPF) probabilities.
  • To model the distribution of EPY within broods across different populations and species.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of genetic data from 18,564 nestlings across 2,346 broods of blue tits, great tits, collared flycatchers, and pied flycatchers.
  • Application of Bayesian modeling to estimate EPC probability (Poisson function) and conditional binomial EPF probability.
  • Utilized an information-theoretic approach to compare population-specific and species-specific effects on EPC and EPF.

Main Results:

  • Extrapair fertilization (EPF) probabilities showed variation primarily at the above-species level (tits vs. flycatchers).
  • The probability of extrapair copulation (EPC) per female varied significantly across different populations within species.
  • Ecological conditions appear to be the primary drivers of EPC frequency, while EPF success is influenced by more conserved, species-level factors.

Conclusions:

  • The likelihood of females engaging in extrapair copulation is strongly influenced by local ecological conditions.
  • Extrapair fertilization success is determined by factors operating at a higher taxonomic level than the population.
  • This study disentangles the ecological and evolutionary drivers of reproductive strategies in socially monogamous birds.