Assortative mating in space and time: patterns and biases

Abstract

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.

Phylogenetic multilevel meta‐analysis: A simulation study on the importance of modelling the phylogeny

“…We use the data from the meta‐analysis by Rios Moura et al. (2021) on size‐assortative mating (SAM) to illustrate an application of the models. Each study included in the meta‐analysis provided one or multiple correlation coefficients describing the similarity in some measure of body size in mating couples.…”

“…Also, using the method by Grafen (1989), we turned the phylogenetic tree used by Rios Moura et al. (2021) into an ultrametric tree before fitting models 9 and 11, to bring these analyses more in line with how our simulation study was conducted. The dataset includes 1,828 effect size estimates (i.e.…”

Extensive historical and contemporary hybridization suggests premating isolation in Vermivora warblers is not strong: A reply to Confer et al.

“…Unfortunately, we now know through extensive genomic studies, beginning in 2016, that these coarse-scale plumage classifications are not indicative of hybrid status (Baiz et al 2020;Toews et al 2016). There are also important statistical baises introduced by pooling data derived from different populations and time periods, as reviewed by Moura et al (2021). They then use these pairing metrics to estimate the extent of behavioral isolation and sexual selection against hybrids.…”

Assortative mating for reproductive timing affects population recruitment and resilience in a quantitative genetic model

“…Here, we consider assortative mating as a positive correlation of genotypes or phenotypes between mated pairs (Jiang et al, 2013 ). This correlation could occur through mechanisms such as (1) mate choice based on phenotype; (2) fine‐scale temporal or spatial autocorrelation of phenotypes, including cases where space or time are considered as ‘traits’; (3) phenotypic changes over time, resulting in an increase in phenotypic correlations between mates; or (4) by patterns of selection on the pool of potential breeders (Jiang et al, 2013 ; Kopp et al, 2018 ; Rios Moura et al, 2021 ; Sørdalen et al, 2018 ). Assortative mating based on phenotype has been studied in a number of wild fish species, with the majority of examples around the world focused on the evolution of traits such as size (de Borghezan et al, 2019 ; Rios Moura et al, 2021 ; Rueger et al, 2016 ) or color (Utagawa et al, 2016 ).…”