Assortative Mating in Animals and Its Role for Speciation

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Tim Janicke - (Author)
  • Lucas Marie-Orleach - (Author)
  • Thomas G Aubier - (Author)
  • Charles Perrier - (Author)
  • Edward H Morrow - (Author)

Abstract

Evolutionary theory predicts that positive assortative mating-the tendency of similar individuals to mate with each other-plays a key role for speciation by generating reproductive isolation between diverging populations. However, comprehensive tests for an effect of assortative mating on species richness at the macroevolutionary scale are lacking. We used a meta-analytic approach to test the hypothesis that the strength of assortative mating within populations is positively related to species richness across a broad range of animal taxa. Specifically, we ran a phylogenetically independent meta-analysis using an extensive database of 1,447 effect sizes for the strength of assortative mating, encompassing 307 species from 130 families and 14 classes. Our results suggest that there is no relationship between the strength of assortative mating and species richness across and within major taxonomic groups and trait categories. Moreover, our analysis confirms an earlier finding that animals typically mate assortatively (global Pearson correlation coefficient: r=0.36; 95% confidence interval: 0.19-0.52) when accounting for phylogenetic nonindependence. We argue that future advances will rely on a better understanding of the evolutionary causes and consequences of the observed intra- and interspecific variation in the strength of assortative mating.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)865-875
Number of pages11
JournalThe American naturalist
Volume194
Issue number6
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2019
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85075099987

Keywords

Keywords

  • Animals, Biological Evolution, Female, Gene Flow, Genetic Speciation, Male, Mating Preference, Animal, Phylogeny, Reproductive Isolation