Assortative pairing
Assortative pairing is a term from evolutionary biology and describes a form of non-random pairing . It occurs when species with sexual reproduction tend to mate with individuals who are particularly similar in certain respects ( positive assortative mating ). In the case of plants , it corresponds to selective fertilization .
The opposite tendency is called negative assortative pairing or disassortative pairing . Mating partners who (in certain aspects) are dissimilar are preferred.
When each individual in a population is equally likely to mate with anyone of the opposite sex, this is known as panmixia .
Basics
In the evolution of species , assortative pairing influences the pace of development. Predominantly mating with similar conspecifics tends to lead to new species via subspecies. Mating dissimilar ones stabilizes the original species and creates fewer new types.
Assortative pairing is cited as the cause of sympatric speciation . In some populations there are two genetic retreats with different phenotypes as the optimum. Intermediate forms of the phenotypes are biologically weaker. It is advantageous for the individual to be able to recognize partners who are genetically striving in the same direction as he is, so that the ability of such recognition develops through natural selection.
With the sea goby
An example of assortative mating is the coral-dwelling sea goby , which splits into mother and daughter species in a small area in New Guinea with few corals. The mother species avoids the area; the daughter species is reproductively isolated from the mother species , although it is surrounded by it. The two species are believed to have separated by assortative mating when members of the nascent subspecies preferred mating with individuals who spawned in the area.
In humans
Scientists speak of associative pairing in humans too. In this case, however, it is not about copulation, but about choosing a life partner . It can be seen that people tend to choose a partner with similar academic skills and intelligence. In one study, for example , spouses 'literacy, spelling and arithmetic skills, the size of the spouses' vocabulary, and the verbal IQ and total IQ of the two spouses correlated with each other.
Steve Silberman hypothesized that the high incidence of children with autism in Silicon Valley could be due to assortative pairing. Accordingly, the risk for autistic offspring is increased by the fact that more tech-savvy men and women with mild autistic traits come together there.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ John B. Armstrong: The Argument for Assortative Mating ( Memento of the original from January 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 1997, originally published on the Canine Diversity Project website, accessed January 30, 2011: "Assortative mating is the mating of individuals that are phenotypically similar."
- ↑ a b Keyword: Matching pairing. In: Lexicon of Biology , Spectrum of Science . Retrieved March 21, 2018 .
- ^ Philipp L. Munday, Lynne van Herweden, Christine L. Dudgeon: Evidence for sympatric speciation by host shift in the sea. In: Current Biology , No. 14 (16), 2004, pp. 1498-1504
- ↑ Yue-Pan, Ke-Sheng Wang. Spousal concordance in academic achievements and IQ. A principal component analysis . Open Journal of Psychiatry. 2011. 1. 14-19
- ↑ Steve Silberman: Ingenious Disorder: The Secret History of Autism and Why We Need People Who Think Different . DUMONT Buchverlag, 2016, ISBN 978-3-8321-8925-9 ( google.de ).
- ↑ Steve Silberman: The Geek Syndrome . Wired .com, accessed on January 30, 2011: “(...) assortative mating is the blond gentleman who prefers blondes; the hyperverbal intellectual who meets her soul mate in the therapist's waiting room. "
