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Related Concept Videos

Mate Choice01:20

Mate Choice

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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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Natural Selection and Mating Preferences01:06

Natural Selection and Mating Preferences

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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.
Females, due to their biological roles in conception, pregnancy, and nursing,...
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Types of Selection01:46

Types of Selection

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Natural selection influences the frequencies of particular alleles and phenotypes within populations in several different ways. Primarily, natural selection can be directional, stabilizing, or disruptive. Directional selection favors one extreme trait and shifts the population towards that phenotype while selecting against individuals displaying alternate traits. Stabilizing selection favors an intermediate trait with a narrow range of variation. Deviation from the optimal phenotype towards an...
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Frequency-dependent Selection01:21

Frequency-dependent Selection

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When the fitness of a trait is influenced by how common it is (i.e., its frequency) relative to different traits within a population, this is referred to as frequency-dependent selection. Frequency-dependent selection may occur between species or within a single species. This type of selection can either be positive—with more common phenotypes having higher fitness—or negative, with rarer phenotypes conferring increased fitness.
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Hardy-Weinberg Principle01:49

Hardy-Weinberg Principle

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Diploid organisms have two alleles of each gene, one from each parent, in their somatic cells. Therefore, each individual contributes two alleles to the gene pool of the population. The gene pool of a population is the sum of every allele of all genes within that population and has some degree of variation. Genetic variation is typically expressed as a relative frequency, which is the percentage of the total population that has a given allele, genotype or phenotype.
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Inclusive Fitness00:57

Inclusive Fitness

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Most altruistic behavior—in which one animal helps another at a cost to themselves—occurs between relatives. Scientists think these altruistic behaviors evolved because they increase the inclusive fitness of the animal providing help.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 1, 2026

Determination of the Mating Efficiency of Haploids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
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Determination of the Mating Efficiency of Haploids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

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ASSORTATIVE MATING AND THE ADAPTIVE LANDSCAPE.

Scott M Williams1, Sahotra Sarkar2,3

  • 1Department of Biology, 5 Cummington Street, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, 02215.

Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution
|June 2, 2017
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Population adaptive peak shifts are facilitated by increased assortative mating and closer linkage. These factors allow populations to reach new fitness peaks more efficiently, potentially explaining rapid evolutionary changes observed in the fossil record.

Keywords:
Assortative matinglinkageselection

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Population genetics

Background:

  • Understanding how populations adapt to changing environments is crucial in evolutionary biology.
  • Adaptive landscapes, characterized by fitness peaks, model evolutionary trajectories.
  • Shifting between adaptive peaks presents a significant challenge for populations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the factors influencing a population's ability to shift between adaptive peaks.
  • To analyze the roles of assortative mating, selection, and genetic linkage in this process.

Main Methods:

  • A two-locus population genetics model was employed.
  • Simulations varied degrees of assortative mating, selection intensity, and genetic linkage.

Main Results:

  • Increased assortative mating enhances the population's capacity to shift to a new adaptive peak.
  • Closer genetic linkage also aids in shifting between peaks, though it's not essential.
  • Higher new peaks and weaker selection against intermediate genotypes increase the likelihood of a shift.
  • Shifts to new peaks occur more rapidly than returns to the original peak.

Conclusions:

  • Assortative mating and close linkage are key mechanisms facilitating adaptive peak shifts.
  • The rapid nature of these shifts may explain observed rapid evolutionary changes in the geological record.
  • Extremely high assortative mating can impede shifts due to the difficulty in breaking down unfavorable allele combinations.