A Possible Role for Generally Adaptive Features in Mate Selection and Sexual Stimulation

Any trait that is advantageous in the normal business of living will make its possessor a more advantageous mate, thus providing selection pressure favoring the trait of preferring to mate with an individual having such traits. In many cases such a feature will have contributed to radiation into a new niche. It will also distinguish a newly evolved species from its ancestral species, providing a basis for reproductive isolation. Consequently recently evolved generally adaptive features are likely to be sexually stimulating or attended to in mate selection. Therefore, there is a good possibility that there are some biologically based mating preferences and sexual responses in humans that are expressed in most cultures.

Download Full-text

A Stochastic Model for Reproductive Isolation Under Asymmetrical Mating Preferences

Bulletin of Mathematical Biology ◽

10.1007/s11538-018-0479-2 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 80 (9) ◽

pp. 2502-2525

Author(s):

Hélène Leman

Keyword(s):

Stochastic Model ◽

Reproductive Isolation ◽

Mating Preferences

Download Full-text

Reward Dysregulation in Sexual Function

The Oxford Handbook of Positive Emotion and Psychopathology ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190653200.013.23 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 352-366

Author(s):

Nicole Prause

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Emotional Disorders ◽

Affective Disorders ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Physical And Mental Health ◽

Sexual Stimulation ◽

Good General Health ◽

Sexual Responses ◽

Sexual Psychophysiology ◽

General Physical

Sexual responses are some of the strongest primary rewards used in research and, arguably, in nature. Sexual response often is considered only in isolation as a reflection of good general health or relevant solely for reproduction. Yet, altered responsiveness to sexual rewards is evident in a number of affective disorders not limited to sexual difficulties. Sexual stimulation has been neglected for its potential to treat a range of general physical and mental health problems. Relative to other emotion sciences, sexual psychophysiology is underdeveloped. The chapter reviews how sexual responses are affected in general emotional disorders, then attempts to distinguish these, often unsuccessfully, from related sexual difficulties.

Download Full-text

Advances in the genetics of reproductive isolation in Drosophila

Genome ◽

10.1139/g89-036 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. 211-220 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

E. Zouros

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Isolation ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Hybrid Sterility ◽

Genetic Material ◽

Future Generation ◽

Major Advance ◽

Hybrid Inviability ◽

Mating Preferences ◽

Morphological Differences ◽

Made In

Speciation genetics is defined as the study of genetic events and processes that differentiate the probabilities that genetic material from individual members of a population will co-occur in individuals of some future generation. It follows that phenotypic attributes that contribute to this differentiation of probabilities (e.g., mating preferences, sterility, or infertility of individuals from certain types of matings) constitute the phenotype of speciation, and genetic loci that may affect these phenotypic attributes can be considered as speciation genes. The literature on genetic differences between hybridizable species of Drosophila that are responsible for morphological differences, mating preferences, hybrid inviability, and hybrid sterility are reviewed with special reference to the species pair D. mojavensis – D. arizonensis. The case for the involvement of karyotypic changes in speciation in rodents is briefly discussed. It is concluded that no major advance has been made in the speciation genetics of Drosophila since Dobzhansky initiated the field 40 years ago. Yet, the identification of several gene loci that cause hybrid inviability or sterility may open the way to the understanding of reproductive isolation at the molecular level. It is not clear whether this approach will lead to general molecular mechanisms underlying the speciation process.Key words: speciation genetics, hybrid sterility, reproductive isolation, Drosophila.

Download Full-text

Chemical caressess: geographical variation of male sexual signals in a Neotropical scorpion

Behaviour ◽

10.1163/1568539x-00003302 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 152 (12-13) ◽

pp. 1745-1763 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Paola A. Olivero ◽

Andrés González ◽

Camilo I. Mattoni ◽

Alfredo V. Peretti

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Isolation ◽

Mate Selection ◽

Geographical Variation ◽

Sexual Isolation ◽

Mate Recognition ◽

Dorsal Side ◽

Sexual Signals ◽

Chemical Analyses ◽

Sexual Behaviours ◽

Two Populations

Differences in sexual signals among species are common, and may influence mate recognition and reproductive isolation. In scorpions, behavioural mechanisms and other sexual signals involved in mate selection and reproductive isolation have been scarcely studied. In this paper, we compare different male sexual signals between two distant populations of the scorpionBothriurus bonariensis, one located in Uruguay and the other in Central Argentina. We compare sexual behaviours from intra-populations and inter-populations matings. In addition, we extent this comparison to the secreted compounds and morphology of the exocrine glands located on the dorsal side of the telson in this species. Males ofB. bonariensisperformed stimulatory behaviours to the female with different frequency of occurrence and duration in the two populations. Chemical analyses of the glandular extracts showed that Uruguayan males present compounds which are absent in males of Argentinian population. In addition, we observed that in inter-population matings, stimulatory behaviours had intermediate patterns to intra-population matings. However, males failed to achieve a successful sperm transfer with females of different population. Mechanisms of sexual isolation between these two distant populations ofB. bonariensisapparently seem to have evolved due to divergence in allopatry. The differences in stimulatory levels during courtship between the two populations studied here give evidence for an early behavioural divergence promoted by sexual selection.

Download Full-text

Improving the Efficiency of Artificial Selection: More Selection Pressure With Less Inbreeding

Genetics ◽

10.1093/genetics/151.3.1103 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 151 (3) ◽

pp. 1103-1114

Author(s):

Leopoldo Sanchez ◽

Miguel Angel Toro ◽

Carlos García

Keyword(s):

Genetic Variability ◽

Mate Selection ◽

Selection Pressure ◽

Phenotypic Selection ◽

Selection Response ◽

Selection Differential ◽

Genetic Progress ◽

Selection Scheme ◽

Real Population ◽

Mean And Variance

Abstract The use of population genetic variability in present-day selection schemes can be improved to reduce inbreeding rate and inbreeding depression without impairing genetic progress. We performed an experiment with Drosophila melanogaster to test mate selection, an optimizing method that uses linear programming to maximize the selection differential applied while at the same time respecting a restriction on the increase in inbreeding expected in the next generation. Previous studies about mate selection used computer simulation on simple additive genetic models, and no experiment with a real character in a real population had been carried out. After six selection generations, the optimized lines showed an increase in cumulated phenotypic selection differential of 10.76%, and at the same time, a reduction of 19.91 and 60.47% in inbreeding coefficient mean and variance, respectively. The increased selection pressure would bring greater selection response, and in fact, the observed change in the selected trait was on average 31.03% greater in the optimized lines. These improvements in the selection scheme were not made at the expense of the long-term expectations of genetic variability in the population, as these expectations were very similar for both mate selection and conventionally selected lines in our experiment.

Download Full-text

The effects of experimental design on mating preferences and reproductive isolation in killifish

Behavioral Ecology ◽

10.1093/beheco/ary150 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 30 (1) ◽

pp. 92-100 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Michelle E St. John ◽

Rebecca C Fuller

Keyword(s):

Experimental Design ◽

Reproductive Isolation ◽

Mating Preferences

Download Full-text

Early learning influences species assortative mating preferences in Lake Victoria cichlid fish

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2006.0601 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 134-136 ◽

Cited By ~ 126

Author(s):

Machteld N Verzijden ◽

Carel ten Cate

Keyword(s):

Reproductive Isolation ◽

Assortative Mating ◽

Lake Victoria ◽

Cichlid Fish ◽

Species Flock ◽

Mating Preferences ◽

Sexual Imprinting ◽

Cichlid Species ◽

Young Females ◽

Genetic Mechanisms

The Lake Victoria ‘species flock’ of cichlids is puzzling because reproductive isolation often occurs in the absence of substantial ecological differences among species. Theory predicts that this cannot evolve with most genetic mechanisms for mate choice. We provide the first evidence that learning, in the form of sexual imprinting, helps maintain reproductive isolation among closely related cichlid species. Using a cross-fostering experiment, we show that young females develop a sexual preference for males of their foster mothers' species, even reversing species assortative mating preferences. We suggest that learning creates favourable conditions for reproductive isolation to evolve.

Download Full-text