A novel method to estimate the spatial scale of mate choice in the wild

Estévez, D.A. García; Ng, Terence P. T.; Fernández-Meirama, M; Voois, Jorien M.; Carvajal-Rodríguez, Antonio; Williams, Gray A.; Galindo, Juan; Rolán‐Alvarez, Emilio

doi:10.1007/s00265-018-2622-3

Cited by 11 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…In any case, there are a few potential caveats in the present study that need to be addressed in order to dispel doubts about our results. First, the I PSI and similar indexes allow us to estimate assortative mating, and are frequently used as a proxy of mate choice, at least in laboratory conditions (reviewed in Gilbert Estévez et al 2018Estévez et al , 2020. Thus, the correction used here does not correct, a priori, towards either negative or positive values of assortative mating.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, the correction used here does not correct, a priori, towards either negative or positive values of assortative mating. For example, the same correction was used to estimate the real scale at which mate choice occurs in two species of marine gastropods (Estévez et al 2018), one characterised by positive assortative mating (Echinolittorina malaccana) and the other by negative assortative mating (L. fabalis), highlighting that this method is suitable to estimate both types of assortative mating. Therefore, the correction that we applied in this study assures a more reliable estimate of assortative mating in natural populations.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Negative assortative mating and maintenance of shell colour polymorphism in Littorina (Neritrema) species

et al. 2021

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Colour polymorphism is a widespread phenomenon in natural populations of several species. In particular, it is especially common on marine gastropod species from the genus Littorina. Recently, it has been argued that intrapopulation shell colour polymorphism in Littorina fabalis could be caused by negative frequency-dependent sexual selection via a mechanism of mate choice (indirectly estimated via negative assortative mating). Here we try to determine the existence of negative assortative mating in three species of the subgenus Neritrema (L. fabalis, L. obtusata, L. saxatilis) that share a similar shell colour polymorphism, in order to ascertain if this mechanism could represent an ancestral character in this subgenus that could be contributing to the maintenance of the colour polymorphism in each species.Here, we collected or reanalysed from previous studies a sample of mating pairs of the three species from seven locations from NW Spain and NE Russia and estimated assortative mating using the I PSI index. Our results show that all species and populations show a systematic tendency towards negative assortative mating when shell colour is grouped in the broad categories: 'light' and 'dark'. Although, a more detailed analysis of each colour individually suggests that shell colour may not be the main target of assortative mating, but perhaps physically linked to another trait or through pleiotropic effects. This hypothesis opens interesting new lines of research in Littorina snails.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negative assortative mating and maintenance of shell colour polymorphism in Littorina (Neritrema) species

et al. 2021

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“…Consequently, the estimation of assortative mating may not represent mate choice and may result in positive bias for these species. This kind of bias can only be corrected after changing the experimental design for sampling mating pairs (see Estévez et al 2018).…”

Section: Spatial and Temporal Effects On Sam Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assortative mating in space and time: patterns and biases

Moura

Gonzaga

Pinto³

et al. 2021

Ecology Letters

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Despite the important roles of assortative mating for understanding evolutionary processes, our knowledge on the variation in assortative mating across populations and breeding periods has been overshadowed by the greater attention given to general patterns. Obtaining data on mating pairs are difficult for most species; therefore, researchers often group data from different populations or breeding periods, which can increase positive biases in detecting and estimating assortative mating. We used a meta‐analytic approach to investigate the biases caused by spatially or temporally pooling data and the assortative mating consistency across populations and breeding periods. We describe assortative mating patterns across and within animal taxa. We performed a systematic review to search studies reporting measures of size‐assortative mating (SAM). Grouping data from multiple populations and seasons incurred positive biases. Overall, assortative mating moderately exhibited low repeatability in space and time, but it was inconsistent for most taxa. After excluding pooled measures, the average estimate for assortative mating was moderate and positive. Thus, our findings demonstrate that pooling data can produce misleading results. We also highlight the importance of further investigation of hypotheses that explain spatial and temporal variation in assortative mating, after its detection. Our study reinforces the significance of investigating mating patterns at various spatial and temporal scales before drawing broad conclusions.

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“…We defined potentially productive matings as matings with conspecific females and unproductive mating as matings with any other partners, with a caveat that matings with some heterospecific females could be productive. We assumed that a total effect of PMI could be due to a combination of several phenomena such as reproductive timing (differential mating activity of males), habitat-preference and adaptation, sexual selection and isolation, but not to differentially mating preferences or sexual selection per se, which require a different sampling design and use of other estimators 47 , 48 , 52 , 65 , 66 . Disentangling the effects of sexual selection and isolation can be very informative when applied to population studies, and their estimators have been developed (PSS and PSI 52 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Disentangling the effects of sexual selection and isolation can be very informative when applied to population studies, and their estimators have been developed (PSS and PSI 52 ). When considering multiple species, however, sexual selection and isolation cannot be differentiated due to strong effects of e.g ., habitat-preference, on observed mating pattern, the so-called “scale of choice” problem 47 , 65 , 66 . Therefore, in our study we focused on the total effects of all PMI mechanisms, including non-homogeneous spatial distribution, reproductive timing, and mechanisms of mate choice.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Premating barriers in young sympatric snail species

Maltseva

Varfolomeeva

Lobov

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Sympatric coexistence of recently diverged species raises the question of barriers restricting the gene flow between them. Reproductive isolation may be implemented at several levels, and the weakening of some, e.g. premating, barriers may require the strengthening of the others, e.g. postcopulatory ones. We analysed mating patterns and shell size of mates in recently diverged closely related species of the subgenus Littorina Neritrema (Littorinidae, Caenogastropoda) in order to assess the role of premating reproductive barriers between them. We compared mating frequencies observed in the wild with those expected based on relative densities using partial canonical correspondence analysis. We introduced the fidelity index (FI) to estimate the relative accuracy of mating with conspecific females and precopulatory isolation index (IPC) to characterize the strength of premating barriers. The species under study, with the exception of L. arcana, clearly demonstrated preferential mating with conspecifics. According to FI and IPC, L. fabalis and L. compressa appeared reliably isolated from their closest relatives within Neritrema. Individuals of these two species tend to be smaller than those of the others, highlighting the importance of shell size changes in gastropod species divergence. L. arcana males were often found in pairs with L. saxatilis females, and no interspecific size differences were revealed in this sibling species pair. We discuss the lack of discriminative mate choice in the sympatric populations of L. arcana and L. saxatilis, and possible additional mechanisms restricting gene flow between them.

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A novel method to estimate the spatial scale of mate choice in the wild

Cited by 11 publications

References 54 publications

Negative assortative mating and maintenance of shell colour polymorphism in Littorina (Neritrema) species

Negative assortative mating and maintenance of shell colour polymorphism in Littorina (Neritrema) species

Assortative mating in space and time: patterns and biases

Premating barriers in young sympatric snail species

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