Mating System Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

2025

Disease caused by M. cryptica and M. nubilosa was assessed on leaves collected from E. globulus, E. nitens and their Fi hybrids to determine the proportion of disease caused by these two pathogens on the three hosts and to examine the variation in symptoms caused by each species on these hosts. The two pathogens could be distinguished on each host mainly by pseudothecial distribution, and by size and shape of lesions. There were slight variations in symptoms of the two fungi on the three hosts. Mycosphaerella cryptica varied in lesion shape and colour, in whether the margin was callused or not, and in pseudothecial size. Mycosphaerella nubilosa varied mainly in whether pseudothecia were hypophyllous or amphigenous. Symptoms of both M. cryptica and M. nubilosa -did not vary amongst families within a species (or hybrid). On E. globulus, both M. cryptica and M. nubilosa were equally important in causing leaf necrosis on juvenile leaves. Damage to juvenile leaves of E. nitens was caused exclusively by M. cryptica. Mycosphaerella cryptica caused the majority of damage on the hybrid, although M. nubilosa was present on the majority of samples. Only M. cryptica was observed on adult foliage of all three hosts. There was significant variation in proportion of the two pathogens on families within the hybrids but not with either parent species. A.J. Carnegie & P.K. Ades (2002). The proportion of leaf spots caused by Mycosphaerella cryptica and M. nubilosa on Eucalyptus globulus, E. nitens and their Fl hybrids in a family trial in Tasmania, Australia.

2025, The Condor

Sexual dimorphism, mating system, and parental care are known for only a few species of the large passerine family Furnariidae. We conducted a study of sexual dimorphism in morphology, coloration, and parental roles during incubation and chickrearing in the Thorn-tailed Rayadito (Aphrastura spinicauda), a characteristic resident ovenbird of the southern temperate rainforests of Chile and Argentina. Through molecular sexing, morphological measurements, and spectrophotometric analysis of body plumage and rectrices of reproductive adults captured on Chiloe ´Island (southern Chile), we determined that males were between 2% and 10% larger than females in mass, tarsus length, and wing length, while no difference was found for the length of the bill or the two longest central rectrices and their characteristic spines, or in plumage coloration. Heavy males were paired with heavy females and light males with light females. Males and females participated equally in all reproductive activities during the incubation and nestling phases, except removal of nestling feces, in which females were twice as active as males. In a study of habitat use on Navarino Island (extreme southern Chile) we found that the extended graduated tail, with rectrices that end in spines, which gives the species its name, was not used as a support while foraging and could be related to another function such as sexual or social signaling. The absence of sexual dimorphism in plumage and parental roles in rayaditos may be related to the use of the long, graduated tail as a signal of quality by both sexes, although this hypothesis requires confirmation through future mate choice studies.

2025

Rosy razorfish, Xyrichtys martinicensis, live in isolated colonies on extensive sandbeds in the San Blas Islands of Panama. The females in these colonies are members of contiguous harems, each of which is defended by a single large male. These fish are unusual among wrasses in that females are gregarious and extremely site-attached. It is proposed that this adaptation to the lack of shelter in sandbed habitats enables large males to ~uccessfully defend groups of females and has therefore led to the development of a haremic mating system in this species (female defense polygyny). Among the secondary adaptations to this mating system are protogynous sequential hermaphroditism (sex-change from female to male), the absence of non-sex-changed males, and reduced male gonad size.

2025, Australian Journal of Botany

Plant species conservation relies on their reproductive success and likelihood of population persistence. Knowledge of plant mating systems, particularly the relationship between plants and their pollinators, is fundamental to inform conservation efforts. This knowledge could be critical for prioritising efforts in human-dominated fragmented landscapes such as the world’s biodiversity hotspots, where reproductive success can be compromised due to habitat loss, limited access to pollinators or other factors. Yet, fundamental data on plant mating systems are lacking for many Australian plants. Here we determined the mating systems of native plant species growing in native woodland fragments within Perth’s urban landscape in south-western Australia. We manipulated insect access to flowers and pollen transfer on five locally common native species, then observed floral visitors and examined reproductive success. Hemiandra pungens and Patersonia occidentalis had mixed mating systems with ...

2025, The Wilson Bulletin

was studied in a New Jersey population of European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). Biopsy of both blood and pectoral muscle was done on 550 wild birds, including both adults and all chicks at 95 nests between 1983-1985. Vertical thin-layer polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) was employed rather than starch gel electrophoresis because we found through using both that PAGE has greater resolution for the enzymes we examined. Thirty-three loci were screened, but only three were both resolvable and found to have bona fide polymorphism. Two unambiguous cases of cuckoldry were discovered, each involving two chicks. Another six cases may have been either cuckoldry or intraspecific brood parasitism; they involved only one chick each. If only the two unambiguous cases are counted, the frequency of cuckoldry was 2.1%. If the six ambiguous cases are included, the frequency was 8.4%. Low measured frequencies do not necessarily imply a low risk of cuckoldry because they may reflect the conservatism of electrophoresis and the effectiveness of anticuckoldry behaviors. Cuckoldry may be a serious, but contained, risk in our population.

2025

signals enhance the efficiency of mate assessment in satin bowerbirds

2025

Current tests of the bright male hypothesis focus on assays of adult disease resistance and their relation to male trait development and female choice. We suggest that if parasites have significant harmful effects on juvenile stages of a host, then females selecting males that effectively signal juvenile parasite resistance may gain a significant ''good genes'' benefit. Currently, there is no information on juvenile and adult infection or resistance in the same male and whether adult male displays signal juvenile parasite resistance. In the present study, we measure infection of the ectoparasitic louse, Myrsidea ptilonorhynchi, in individual male satin bowerbirds (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus) both as juveniles and nine or more years later as adults. We test hypotheses that examine the role of juvenile parasite infection in mediating sexual selection. We found that (1) juvenile infection is higher than adult infection in the same individuals, (2) adult males able to hold display sites have lower juvenile infection, and (3) juvenile and adult infection in the same individuals are not significantly correlated. In addition, comparisons among a larger set of individuals from a single year show that blood and ectoparasite infections are highly correlated, and both decrease with male age and are inversely related to male courtship success. These results, combined with the evidence that females mate exclusively with bower-holding males support the hypothesis that females use adult male display traits to identify males with a high level of juvenile disease resistance. We suggest that effective tests of the bright male hypothesis should include (1) assessment of infection resistance in both subadult and adult life history stages, (2) tests of whether differences in age-specific resistance are indicated in adult male displays, and (3) tests to determine if females attend to these traits in mate choice. Although these requirements increase the difficulty of testing the bright male hypothesis, they are necessary for a more accurate assessment of the effects of parasites on male display and female choice.

2025

The genetic systems of Paspalum species have not been extensively studied. We analysed the ploidy, reproductive mode, mating system, and fertility of four Paspalum species - P. durifolium, P. ionan-thum, P. regnellii, and P. urvillei. An analysis of 378 individuals from 20 populations of north-eastern Argentina was conducted. All populations of the four Paspalum species were pure tetraploid and had a sexual and stable reproductive mode. However, some populations of P. durifolium and P. ionanthum showed low levels of apospory. Populations of P. durifolium and P. ionanthum had low seed sets under self-pollination but were fertile under open pollination, showing that self-incompatibility likely caused self-sterility. In contrast, populations of P. regnellii or P. urvillei showed no evidence of apospory and seed set in both self- and open pollination conditions were high, suggesting that they are self-compatible, due to the absence of pollen-pistil molecular in-compatibility mechanisms....

2025, BMC Evolutionary Biology

The trade-off between current and future parental investment is often different between males and females. This difference may lead to sexual conflict between parents over care provisioning in animals that breed with multiple mates. One of the most obvious manifestations of sexual conflict over care is offspring desertion whereby one parent deserts the young to increase its reproductive success at the expense of its mate. Offspring desertion is a wide-spread behavior, and its frequency often varies within populations. We studied the consistency of offspring desertion in a small passerine bird, the Eurasian penduline tit Remiz pendulinus, that has an extremely variable breeding system. Both males and females are sequentially polygamous, and a single parent (either the male or the female) incubates the eggs and rears the young. About 28-40% of offspring are abandoned by both parents, and these offspring perish. Here we investigate whether the variation in offspring desertion in a population emerges either by each individual behaving consistently between different broods, or it is driven by the environment. Results: Using a three-year dataset from Southern Hungary we show that offspring desertion by females is consistent between nests. Male desertion, however, depends on ambient environment, because all males desert their nests early in the season and some of them care late in the season. Therefore, within-population variation in parental care emerges by sexually different mechanisms; between-individual variation was responsible for the observed pattern of offspring desertion in females, whereas within-individual variation was responsible for the observed pattern in males. To our knowledge, our study is the first that investigates repeatability of offspring desertion behavior in nature. The contrasting strategies of the sexes imply complex evolutionary trajectories in breeding behavior of penduline tits. Our results raise an intriguing question whether the sexual difference in caring/deserting decisions explain the extreme intensity of sexual conflict in penduline tits that produces a high frequency of biparentally deserted (and thus wasted) offspring.

2025, Revista catalana d'ornitologia = Catalan journal of ornithology

Knowledge of population structure is fundamental when analysing the spatial distribution of and habitat selection in sex classes. The aim of this work was to describe the structure in terms of its sex ratio of a population of Water Rail Rallus aquaticus wintering in a tidal reed bed in Urdaibai (N Spain). Sampling was carried out during winter 2012-2013. Overall, 20 Water Rails were captured and the sex was molecularly determined in 19. Apart from one male, all the Water Rails (94.7%) were females. Assuming that males are the dominant sex and thus have priority access to optimal habit, one plausible explanation for this unusual pattern is that tidal reed beds could be a suboptimal habitat occupied by the subordinate sex (females). Alternatively, tidal reed beds may be sufficiently good-quality habitat but males may maintain their breeding territories elsewhere. Capture-associated biases were excluded. When considering biometrics, it seems unlikely that our Water Rails are winter visitors from northern regions.

2025, Journal of Mammalogy

Coyotes (Canis latrans) occur across North America in many types of ecosystems, including urban areas, yet certain aspects of coyote behavior remain obscure. Previous observational studies have provided evidence that coyotes are socially monogamous; however, the degree to which coyotes exhibit genetic monogamy has not previously been determined. We used radiotelemetry and genetic techniques to determine the mating system of an urban coyote population. We obtained samples from 236 coyotes captured during 2000-2006 in the Greater Chicago Metropolitan Area of Illinois. Individuals were genotyped using 12 polymorphic microsatellite markers. Among 18 litters comprising 96 offspring, we found no evidence of polygamy, and detected a single instance of a double litter (pups from different parents sharing the same den). The 2 mated pairs that contributed to the double litter had not interbred. However, the relatedness values shared between 1 mated pair and the pups that were not their offspring suggested that they were closely related, possibly as cousins or grandparents/ grandoffspring. Across all radiocollared mated pairs, mean home range overlap for the male and female was 80.1% (SD 5 13.4). Among 7 mated pairs, 3 of which were radiotracked over multiple years, there was no evidence of mate abandonment and multiyear monogamy was maintained. Despite the high food resources available and high population density, urban coyotes display no variability in their monogamous mating system.

2025, Journal of Tropical Ecology

Behavioural sex-role reversal occurs when males and females exchange their standard roles in territorial defence or parental care. One circumstance under which sex-role reversal may occur is when males are a limiting resource, so that females have to compete for access to mates. Here we report on male rarity and male and female behaviour of species within the damselfly genus Nesobasis, endemic to Fiji. Earlier reports suggested that, in some members of this genus, males were seldom observed and that females of these species were consequentially territorial, a phenomenon described as ‘sex-role reversal’. Quantitative estimation of the ratio of adult males to females at 15 localities in 13 Nesobasis species (1489 individuals) indicated that males were extremely rare in some species, yet common in others. This interspecific variability in male rarity cannot be explained by elevation or habitat. Formal observations of three species with abundant males revealed that males of these specie...

2025, Journal of Tropical Ecology

2025, Evolutionary Ecology

Large potential effects of male care on the number of offspring females successfully raise arc not sufficient to select for caring males because of the pervasive importance of mating competition. Males face a version of 'the social dilemma', in which increased production increases the pay-off for theft. Models of the allocation of male effort partitioned between caring for babies and competing for paternity show that the optimal allocation to care is very low under a wide range of conditions. Like sex allocation where the alternatives are male versus female function or sons versus daughters, the pay-offs to one alternative arc always strongly frequency dependent. Because that alternative (male function, sons, male mating effort) pays so well when rare, it cannot remain rare under most conditions. Here we consider the consequences of partitioning mating effort into mate guarding and all other forms of mating conflict. If a male gets all his partner's conceptions while guarding, gaining them at a constant rate, there are two possible regions of stability. The evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) depends on a parameter scaling the decisiveness of (non-guarding) mating conflict. When marginal returns from conflict decrease with scale, almost all effort goes into guarding. When marginal returns increase, the ESS devotes all effort to mating. Even when the potential effect of care is large, male equilibrium strategies allocate little effort to it. We also report the results of computer simulations showing that care increases if gains from guarding saturate quickly, so that a male is assured of the paternity of most of his partner's offspring with little guarding, and consequently the pool of unguarded conceptions open to competion shrinks sharply. But even when the male's dilemma is very much reduced, it still substantially limits the allocation to care. The results of both computer simulations and mathematical analysis converge with other lines of evidence that mating has much stronger effects than parenting in shaping male strategies.

2025, Indian Journal of Agricultural Research, Volume 59 Issue 4 (April 2025)

Background: Indian mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Czern and Coss] is most important oilseed crop grown in Rabi season and have been used as a source of edible oil in the Indian subcontinent. Low use of mustard oil is basically due to the presence of high content of erucic acid which not only deteriorate the quality of oil but also have harmful effects on human body. Methods: Knowledge of erucic acid trait inheritance is crucial so as to define the breeding strategies for erucic acid trait in Indian mustard. In present study the experiment to study mode of inheritance of erucic acid trait was carried out among progeny of crosses involving high erucic acid (NRCHB-101) and low erucic acid (Heera and PDZ-1) cultivars of Brassica juncea. The study was conducted using six generations viz.

2025, Heredity

Mating systems define the mode of gene transmission across generations, helping to determine the amount and distribution of genetic variation within and among populations of plant species. A hierarchical analysis of Mediterranean maritime pine mating system (61 mother trees from 24 plots, clustered in three populations) was used to identify factors affecting mating patterns and to fit pollen dispersal kernels. Levels of ovule and seed abortion, multi-and single-locus outcrossing rates and correlated paternity were estimated from progeny arrays and correlated with ecological stand variables and biometric tree measures. Pollen dispersal kernels were fitted using TwoGener and KinDist indirect methods and simulations were carried out to identify relevant factors affecting correlated paternity. Maritime pine showed high outcrossing rates (t m and t s B0.96) and relatively low levels of correlated paternity [an r p of 0.018 (Ritland's estimate) or 0.048 (Hardy's estimate)], although higher than in other anemophilous tree species. Mating system parameters had high variation at the single-tree level (99-100%) but no stand or population effect was detected. At the single-tree level, outcrossing rates were correlated with tree (diameter and height) and crown size. In addition, correlated paternity showed a significant negative correlation with tree height, height to crown base and height to the largest crown width, probably reflecting the importance of the trees' 'ecological neighborhoods'. Indirectly estimated pollen dispersal kernels were very leptokurtic (exponential-power distributions with b50.5), with mean dispersal distances from 78.4 to 174.4 m. Fitted dispersal kernels will be useful in building explicit simulation models that include dispersal functions, and which will contribute to current conservation and management programs for maritime pine. Nevertheless, the numerical simulations showed that restricted dispersal, male fertility and phenological overlap could only partially explain the observed levels of correlated paternity; so other factors may also be relevant for the management of this valuable forest tree species.

2025, Journal of Comparative Psychology

Sexual selection and mating systems profoundly influence the behavior and psychology of animals. Using their own studies of green anacondas (Eunectes murinus) and reviewing other recent studies, the authors conclude that incomplete data derived from a few well-studied snake species have led to general acceptance of polygyny as the dominant mating system in snakes. New data on behavior, paternity, and life history in a diverse taxonomic array of snakes support the view that polyandry is not only common in snakes but may have been the ancestral mating system. This interpretation helps to explain many seemingly paradoxical behavioral differences between lizards and snakes, such as the lack of territorial systems in most snakes and their frequent female-biased sexual size dimorphism.

2025, Agricultural Reviews, Volume 46 Issue 2 (April 2025)

Neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss.) is an important woody angiosperm belonging to the order Rutales, family Meliaceae. Neem is a botanical relative of mahogany and is native to India and Burma.The studies on genetic improvement of Neem are not well documented so for the effective use of Neem resources, effective exploration and improvement required. The current paper aimed to review all the studies related to genetic improvement of neem to understand genetic variability in Neem and its improvement can be done in this medicinally important tree species. In thispaper various studies has been reviewed that provided status of the improvement work on Neem all over the world. Tree breeders assessed the genetic resources available for improvement, selecting genes with high utility and economic value and packaging them into genotypes that may be utilized to start commercial plantations. Researchers used biotechnological, traditional tools to improve this species. Despite its widespread ranged studies and numerous researches for better understanding breeding efforts must be expanded.

2025, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

In many mating systems, males adopt alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) to maximize reproductive success. In fishes, guarding males often invest more energy into courtship, defense, and paternal care, whereas cuckolding males forego such costs and steal fertilizations by releasing their sperm in the nest of a guarding male. These two tactics have been documented in the plainfin midshipman fish (Porichthys notatus), yet the relative reproductive success of the guarding and cuckolding male tactics remains unknown. In this study, we used microsatellite markers to determine the level of paternity of the guarding type I males. We explored how paternity varied with male phenotype and across the breeding season. Our results revealed the lowest documented levels of paternity in a species with obligate paternal care. Although paternity remained consistently low, it did increase as the breeding season progressed. Male body size did not significantly predict paternity. The low paternity in this species may be explained, in part, by aspects of their reproductive ecology including the duration of parental care period, limited nest availability and competition for nests, as well as the occurrence of nest takeovers. Overall, our findings contribute to the understanding of the ultimate factors underlying ARTs in this species and highlight the importance of investigating reproductive success across the entire breeding season.

2025, Animal Behaviour

Polygyny is regarded as a beneficial strategy for males, whereas females mated with polygynous males (males simultaneously paired to more than one female) often suffer a reduction in pair male contributions. This study examined the costs and benefits associated with polygyny in the cooperatively breeding cichlid Neolamprologus pulcher. In this species, males are facultatively polygynous; some males hold only one territory with one breeding female whereas other males hold multiple territories, each with its own breeding female. Polygynous males were larger than monogamous males and body-scraped less, a behaviour often associated with ectoparasite loads. Polygynous males also had larger testes (controlling for body mass) and higher circulating 11-ketotestosterone levels than monogamous males. Paradoxically, monogamous males occupied higher-quality territories with more shelter and fewer predators. Monogamous males also provided more parental care than polygynous males but the number and survival of young did not vary according to male mating behaviour. The results of our study suggest that females trade-off between male genetic quality and resources in N. pulcher. Our results imply that males holding only one territory may provide their mates with significant assets but may not be able to outcompete neighbours for additional breeding positions because of their small body size and possible higher parasite load. The lack of differences between monogamous and polygynous groups in terms of offspring survival (a measure of reproductive success) suggests that there may be few if any fitness consequences of polygynous pairing for females.

2025, Journal of Cotton Research

Studies on genetic variation and combining ability are essential tools to employ the suitable breeding programme, particularly for hybrid production, to exploit the heterosis in cross-pollinated crops like cotton. Thus, combining ability studies in desi cotton (Gossypium arboreum L.) was carried out using 13 diverse parents through diallel mating design, evaluating 78 F 1 hybrids along with their parents, without reciprocals using Griffing's and Hayman's approaches.
Genotypes H 509, AC 3265, AKH 496, and PBN 565 exhibited superior per se performance, indicating their potential use as parents in future breeding programs to develop superior hybrids. The general combining ability (GCA) effect of the genotypes revealed that AC 3097 and AKA 13-SP1 were good general combiners for most traits in this study. Genotypes PBS 1127-SP1, AKH 496, H 509, N11-54-31-32, and AKA 13-SP1 exhibited strong combining ability, contributing to a significant specific combining ability (SCA) effect in seven selected crosses (AC 3265 × PBS 1127-SP1, AKH 496 × H 509, AKH 496 × AC 3097, PBS 1127-SP1 × N11-54-31-32, AC 3216 × AKA 13-SP1, H 503 × N11-54-31-32, and H 509 × AKA 13-SP1) for yield improvement. These crosses showed positive heterosis in a positive direction.
From the present study, five genotypes (AC 3097, AKA 13-SP1, N11-54-31-32, AC 3265, and H 509) were identified as good general combiners for producing hybrids, and seven combinations showed a promising hybrid for future breeding programs.

2025, Conservation Genetics

Dyckia ibiramensis is a naturally rare, endemic and threatened bromeliad which occurs naturally on 4 km of rocky river outcroppings in Southern Brazil. For this study, subpopulations of the species were characterized based on size and genetics, to compile information for in situ and ex situ conservation strategies. A census of the rosettes was undertaken for each subpopulation and seven allozyme polymorphic loci were used to estimate genetic diversity and structure of adults and offspring and assess the mating system. In general, the subpopulations were small and most of the rosettes were aggregated into clumps. The species showed a high genetic diversity ( Ĥe ¼ 0:219) and significant fixation index ( f ¼ 0:642; P B 0.05). The estimate of differentiation among all adult subpopulations indicate pronounced genetic structure ( Ĝ0 ST ¼ 0:674). D. ibiramensis has a mixed mating system and multilocus outcrossing rates tm were variable between subpopulations. This study demonstrates the importance of in situ preservation of all subpopulations for the maintenance of species diversity. For effective ex situ conservation, it would be necessary to collect seeds from 52 to 99 seed-rosettes, depending on the target population.

2025, Journal of Evolutionary Biology

The rapid evolutionary divergence of male genital structures under sexual selection is well documented. However, variation in female genital traits and the potential for sexual conflict to drive the coevolution between male and female traits has only recently received attention. In many lepidopterans females possess genital teeth (collectively, signa). Comparative studies suggest these teeth, involved in the deflation of spermatophores, may have coevolved with male spermatophore thickness via sexually antagonistic coevolution in a contest over the rate of deflation of spermatophores within the reproductive tract. We tested the hypothesis that sexual conflict should generate coevolution between genital teeth and spermatophore morphology by examining these traits under experimental manipulation of sexual conflict intensity. Using micro-CT scanning, we examined spermatophore and teeth morphology in populations of the Indian moth, Plodia interpunctella, which had been evolving for 110 generations under different adult sex-ratio biases. We found divergence in female signa morphology in response to sexual conflict: females from female-biased populations (reduced sexual conflict) developed wider signa. However, we found no evidence of coevolution between signa traits and spermatophore thickness as reported from comparative studies.

2025, Fish Physiology and Biochemistry - FISH PHYSIOL BIOCHEM

Species that employ sexual reproduction must synchronize gamete maturity with behavior within and between genders. Teleost fishes solve this challenge by using reproductive hormones both as endogenous signals to synchronize sexual behavior with gamete maturation, and as exogenous signals (pheromones) to synchronize spawning interactions between fish. This dual role of hormonal products is best understood in the goldfish, an external fertilizer with a promiscuous mating system. Female gonadal growth and vitellogenesis is stimulated by 17β-estradiol (E2) which also evokes release of a recrudescent pheromone. At the completion of vitellogenesis, ovarian E2 production drops and plasma testosterone increases, sensitizing the female gonadotropin II (luteinizing hormone; LH) system to environmental cues (temperature, spawning substrate, pheromones). These cues eventually trigger a LH surge that alters steroidogenesic pathways to favor the production of progestins including 17,20β-dihydroxy...

2025, Tarım Bilimleri Dergisi

In order to determine the trend of breeding progress and the genetic gain in the Iran's Golestan province, twenty registered spring wheat cultivars, which had been widely cultivated from 1968 to 2018, were investigated. A randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted to study these cultivars in the research stations of Gorgan and Gonbad during three consecutive years (2015-2018). Different morphological characteristics, grain yield and yield components, and some important traits related to remobilization and photosynthesis were measured. Morphological traits including plant height, peduncle length, and spike length did not show any significant trend during the 50-year of breeding improvement in these regions; whereas significant increases were observed for grain yield, biological yield, harvest index, thousand kernel weight, and grain filling rate in the both areas. During the period of breeding investigated, the total contribution of remobilization has decreased, in particular that from stem’s, showed a significant decrease. In contrast, the amount, efficiency, and contribution of photosynthesis revealed to play a significant role in genetic improvement obtained for the cultivars’ successful performances in the regions. Based on the results obtained from the study of different parts of the plants, in addition to being an important photosynthetic source for wheat, over the time, as compared to the other wheat organs, spike showed an increasing potential for the amount of remobilization. It is expected that genotypes selected for higher levels of remobilization abilities with increased photosynthesis, could result in breeding superior high-yielding cultivars in future of the national wheat programs.

2025

Sexual selection, one of the central pillars of evolutionary theory, has powerful effects on organismal morphology, behaviour and population dynamics. However, current knowledge about geographical variation in this evolutionary mechanism and its underlying drivers remains highly incomplete, in part because standardized data on the strength of sexual selection is sparse even for well-studied organisms. Here we use information on mating systems - including the incidence of polygamy and extra-pair paternity - to quantify the intensity of sexual selection in 10671 (>99.9%) bird species distributed worldwide. We show that avian sexual selection varies latitudinally, peaking at higher latitudes, although the gradient is reversed in the world's most sexually selected birds - specialist frugivores - which are strongly associated with tropical forests. Phylogenetic models further reveal that the strength of sexual selection is explained by temperature seasonality coupled with a suite ...

2025, Hormones and Behavior

This study tested the hypothesis that intraspecific variations in mating systems are correlated with differences in the capacity of peripheral arginine vasopressin (AVP) to facilitate partner preferences. It has been hypothesized that differences in environmental conditions, Kansas being more xeric than Illinois, are responsible for some of the intraspecific differences in the mating systems between Kansas (KN) and Illinois (IL) prairie voles. We predicted that prairie voles from KN would be more behaviorally sensitive to peripheral AVP than prairie voles from IL. To test this hypothesis 60-to 120-day-old male and female, lab-reared, prairie voles originating from KN and IL received three subcutaneous injections of AVP or isotonic saline. Animals were then placed with an adult member of the opposite sex, designated a "partner," for a 1-hour period of cohabitation and subsequently tested for preference for the familiar partner versus a comparable stranger. Only KN males treated with AVP displayed a significant preference for the partner. Using the same experimental paradigm we also examined the ability of peripheral oxytocin (OT) to facilitate partner preference in KN prairie voles. OT facilitated partner preference in females, but not males. This finding was consistent with previous results describing the effects of peripheral OT in IL prairie voles. We also examined the hypothesis that the differential response of KN and IL males would be associated with differences in the distribution of AVP (V 1a ) receptors. However, there was no apparent difference in the distribution of V 1a receptors between KN and IL males. The results of this study indicate that there is both intraspecific and intersexual variation in the regulation of social behavior in prairie voles. In addition, these findings suggest that the proximate causes of intraspecific variation may be predicted by knowledge of the habitat of origin.

2025, BMC Evolutionary Biology

Background: Phylogenetic analyses strongly associate nonsocial ancestors of cooperatively-breeding or eusocial species with monogamy. Because monogamy creates high-relatedness family groups, kin selection has been concluded to drive the evolution of cooperative breeding (i.e., the monogamy hypothesis). Although kin selection is criticized as inappropriate for modeling and predicting the evolution of cooperation, there are no examples where specific inclusive fitness-based predictions are intrinsically wrong. The monogamy hypothesis may be the first case of such a flawed calculation. Results: A simulation model mutated helping alleles into non-cooperative populations where females mated either once or multiply. Although multiple mating produces sibling broods of lower relatedness, it also increases the likelihood that one offspring will adopt a helper role. Examining this tradeoff showed that under a wide range of conditions polygamy, rather than monogamy, allowed helping to spread more rapidly through populations. Further simulations with mating strategies as heritable traits confirmed that multiple-mating is selectively advantageous. Although cooperation evolves similarly regardless of whether dependent young are close or more distant kin, it does not evolve if they are unrelated. Conclusions: The solitary ancestral species to cooperative breeders may have been predominantly monogamous, but it cannot be concluded that monogamy is a predisposing state for the evolution of helping behavior. Monogamy may simply be coincidental to other more important life history characteristics such as nest defense or sequential provisioning of offspring. The differing predictive outcome from a gene-based model also supports arguments that inclusive fitness formulations poorly model some evolutionary questions. Nevertheless, cooperation only evolves when benefits are provided for kin: helping alleles did not increase in frequency in the absence of potential gains in indirect fitness. The key question, therefore, is not whether kin selection occurs, but how best to elucidate the differing evolutionary advantages of genetic relatedness versus genetic diversity.

2025, Animal Science Journal

ABSTRACTMinimum coancestry mating (MC) is a simple mating system to reduce inbreeding in populations, in which matings are allocated so as to minimize the average inbreeding coefficient of progeny. This system was compared with random mating (RM) in simulated broiler lines. The population structure and genetic parameters were determined on the basis of an existing broiler line. Comparison of mating systems was made under two selection methods. The first method (DIS) was based on selection index for achieving desired genetic gains. In the second method (LPS), a combination of the family index and linear programming technique was applied to obtain the desired genetic gains. The selected traits were body weight at 6 weeks of both sexes and age at sexual maturity of hen. Four schemes by all the possible combinations of selection and mating methods (DIS + RM, DIS + MC, LPS + RM and LPS + MC) were compared in terms of genetic gains and inbreeding during 15 generations of selection and mat...

2025, Mycoscience

Recently published taxonomic circumscriptions for taxa within Flammulina encouraged mating studies to confirm or reject these names or taxa. Three categories of pairing experiments were performed: 1) self-crosses of monokaryon isolates of exemplars of various putative taxa; 2) inter-exemplar pairings among exemplar strains; and 3) pairings between exemplars and 87 unidentified strains which were grouped on this basis. Mating experiments could distinguish F. velutipes from other taxa, but not among infraspecific taxa of F. velutipes (vars. velutipes, lactea, and lupinicolaJ and monokaryons of all these taxa were partially compatible with those of F. ononidis. Likewise, isolates of F. rossica and F. elastica were partially compatible with one another but incompatible with those of other taxa. All other taxa (F. mexicana, F. stratosa, F. populicola, F. fennae) appeared to be genetically isolated. Low levels of interspecific hybridization between F. velutipes and F. populicola, and between F. velutipes and F. rossicalelastica were also noted.

2025, Sex, Size and Gender Roles

This chapter explores the pattern of sexual size dimorphism (SSD) in mammals and the processes that underlie its evolution. Most mammalian orders have male-biased SSD, although some orders are not sexually-dimorphic for body size or show significantly female-biased SSD. In general, SSD increases with body size across mammals (Rensch's rule). Male-biased dimorphism relates to sexual selection on males through male-male competition for females, since sexual selection as indicated by mating systems is positively correlated with male-biased SSD. Selection pressure on female mass, identified in that age at weaning, is higher in polygynous species. However, the reproductive rate is lower for large females, indicating that fecundity selection selects small females. Although these patterns hold across mammals as a whole, the data presented in the chapter also reveal considerable variation across orders.

2025, Psychological Inquiry

Sex and mating are central to evolutionary processes. Understanding the factors, including the evolved mechanisms, affecting men's and women's sexual decision-making, is of interest to scientists, and the public at-large. But, "getting it right" is critical to researchers trying to develop more effective interventions to address today's important health issues (e.g., preventing HIV, the sexually transmitted virus that causes AIDS, in high-risk populations). In the current work, we briefly describe Attachment Fertility Theory (AFT) (Miller &

2025, Fungal Genetics and Biology

2025

Water voles are nationally protected as one of Britain’s most endangered wild mammals. However conflict can arise where works are required along short sections of riverbank. Vegetation removal is commonly used with the aim of displacing water voles towards safety prior to development, despite a lack of evidence demonstrating its efficacy. This study aimed to investigate the movement and fate of water voles in response to vegetation removal, by radio-tracking individuals during spring and autumn at 12 experimental and four control sites. Vegetation was removed to ground level from 50 m of riverbank at experimental sites, and observed home ranges were compared before and after vegetation removal. There was no significant net movement of water voles out of areas where vegetation had been removed in either spring or autumn, although movement of individuals both in and out of the works area did occur. There was no impact of treatment on water vole survival in either season.

2025, Crop Breeding and Applied Biotechnology

The Amazonian Tucumã palm (Astrocaryum aculeatum) produces edible fruit, traditionally consumed in indigenous communities and increasingly in urban centers. The species is incipiently domesticated and little studied, despite its growing economic importance for smallholder farmers and gatherers. Studies on the mating system are required for the conservation and use of the species' genetic resources. Our objective was to estimate mating system parameters of the Tucumã palm using microsatellite markers. Plants of 11 progenies of a spontaneous population were genotyped with eight microsatellite loci and the mating system parameters estimated. The population outcrossing rate was estimated at 0.978, and ranged from 0.774 to 1at the family level. The estimates of the correlation of paternity (0.176 and 0.205) suggest a low probability of full-sibs within progenies. Tucumã palm is a predominantly allogamous species and the open-pollinated progenies consist predominantly of half-sibs.

2025

Hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) from the Hawaiian archipelago form a small, genetically isolated, population consisting of only a few tens of individuals breeding annually. Most females nest on the island of Hawai’i, but little is known about the demographics of this rookery. This study used genetic relatedness, inferred from 135 microhaplotype markers, to determine breeding sex-ratios, estimate female nesting frequency, and assess relationships between individuals nesting on different beaches. Samples were collected during the 2017 nesting season and final data included 13 nesting females and 1,002 unhatched embryos, salvaged from 41 nests, 13 of which had no observed mother. Results show that most females used a single nesting beach laying 1-5 nests each. From female and offspring alleles the paternal genotypes of 12 breeding males were reconstructed and many showed high relatedness to their mates. Pairwise relatedness of offspring revealed one instance of polygyny ...

2025, The Libyan Journal of Agriculture

The use of molecular markers has become a pivotal component of molecular breeding programs in tomato. In the third generation of this research, two lines derived from the crossbreeding of commercial hybrids were subjected to detailed analysis using molecular markers by ten RAPD-based primers. Among these primers, six (OPA01, OPA05, OPA07, OPA08, OPA09, and OPB10) successfully amplified targeted DNA regions. Significantly, primer OPA07 uniquely linked specific traits in the first line to distinct bands of 280 and 180 base pairs. In the second line, all six primers achieved amplification, with four primers (OPA07, OPA08, OPA09, and OPB10) associating selected traits with distinct bands of 450, 500, 350, and 450 base pairs, respectively. These bands are likely to serve as marker-assisted selection (MAS) tools, facilitating the selection of plants with desired phenotypic traits in tomato breeding. These markers are expected to greatly improve marker-assisted selection techniques and potentially reveal novel genetic resources, thus enriching the genetic diversity within tomato breeding programs for future advancements.

2025

Esta investigación constituye un acercamiento a conocer los factores de localización de las unidades de conveniencia de la cadena Oxxo dentro de la Zona Metropolitana de la Ciudad de Toluca (ZMT). Se analizan estos factores por medio de las variables del censo económico de (2004) y del conteo de población y vivienda (2005), ambos a nivel AGEB’S y por medio de un método de correlación de Pearson, dicho análisis se complementa con investigación de campo y encuestas realizadas fuera de las unidades comerciales Oxxo.

2025

El presente artículo analiza el formato de tiendas de conveniencia de la cadena Oxxo, como medio de proximidad en servicios y abastecimiento dentro del Área Metropolitana de Toluca (AMT). Describe su distribución geográfica, las características contextuales de su estructura locacional, así como parte de la relación de movilidad y funcionalidad entre los servicios y productos que oferta con sus consumidores.

2025, Behavioral Ecology

Species in which males directly defend groups of breeding females often have extreme skew in observed male mating success. In only a few species, however, has a corresponding skew in fertilization success been confirmed. Furthermore, the ecological and social factors contributing to variation in fertilization success need investigation. This study examined competition for mates and paternity in the boat-tailed grackle (Quiscalus major). Observations at colonies of nesting females revealed that the topranking or alpha males performed more than 70% of the copulations. DNA fingerprinting indicated that alpha males sired less than 40% of nestlings. Nevertheless, analysis of band-sharing scores among nestlings from different nests suggested that alpha males sired more than three times as many offspring as any other individual male. Because few nestlings were sired by the nonalpha males that associated with colonies, females must have mated with other males while on trips away from colonies. Analysis of paternity within broods revealed that at least half of all females had their brood fertilized by more than one male. Alpha males' success at fertilizing eggs did not vary with the number of simultaneously receptive females within a colony. Our results suggest that male and female behavior in female-defense polygyny results from complex coevolution of the sexes.

2025, American Journal of Primatology

The priority-of-access (POA) model posits that high dominance rank increases male mating success by increasing access to fertile females. However, the relationship between rank, access to females, and subsequent mating success is variable in primates, and there are few studies representing Neotropical taxa. The purpose here was to test the parameters of the POA model in an asynchronously breeding Neotropical primate, Alouatta palliata, to contribute to our understanding of the relationship between dominance and reproductive strategies in platyrrhines. I collected data on adult males within two large, multimale-multifemale groups exhibiting clear dominance hierarchies at La Pacifica, Costa Rica. Females were classified as sexually receptive (SR) or potentially cycling (PC) based on behavioral and birth data. Access to mates was measured based on total time in proximity to SR/PC females, and mating success was measured based on copulation frequency. Results did not support the predictions of the POA model in that first-ranked males maintained lower than expected time in proximity to SR females, did not consistently maintain the greatest proportion of time in proximity to PC females, obtained lower than expected copulation rates, and did not obtain the highest copulation rates compared to subordinates in either group. Deviations from the POA model were significantly affected by varying operational sex ratios only when considering the lower numbers of available SR females in one group. Alternative reproductive tactics by subordinate males such as tolerance by first-ranked males appeared to be operating, allowing subordinates to obtain mating success when they would otherwise be unable to do so. The study also highlighted how factors such as operational sex ratio may limit the willingness or ability of dominant males to monopolize access to females, and can vary both within and between groups in a population. Am. J. Primatol.

2025, American journal of primatology

2025, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

Most burrowing shrimps (infraorder Axiidea and Gebiidea) are characterized by solitary habits, which led many of these species to evolve a remarkable sexual dimorphism both in body size and chelipeds because of sexual selection. Given that monogamous species are known to live in heterosexual pairs and exhibit a low degree of sexual dimorphism, it is expected that burrowing shrimps are not monogamous. We tested this hypothesis using the burrowing shrimp Lepidophthalmus bocourti as a model. Against expectations, shrimps were found living not only individually but also in homosexual and heterosexual pairs and trios within their respective burrows. The social structure in L. bocourti seemed to be an ontogenetically defined strategy, since most solitary individuals were juveniles of both sexes, while the heterosexual combinations were composed by adult shrimps. Sex distribution of pairs and trios suggested that female-female and male-female-female associations might be stable over time. Only 7% of the inhabited burrows were occupied by a heterosexual pair, and ovigerous females were found dwelling either in solitary or in heterosexual combinations, indicating that this species is not monogamous. Most of the male-female associations occurring both in pairs and trios were dominated by females larger than males. We observed sexual dimorphism in the size of the major cheliped, being larger in males than in females. Ontogenetic pattern of burrow occupation allied to considerable sexual dimorphism argue in favour that L. bocourti is not monogamous and suggest that the major cheliped might have an important role during the male-male competition for receptive females. Burrowing shrimps (Axiidea and Gebiidea) are characterized by their solitary habits and by marked sexual dimorphism both in body size and chelipeds. The way these shrimps occupy their burrows and how common sexual dimorphism occurs remains unknown for most species. This is particularly important since the predominance of certain mating system (i.e. monogamous versus polygamous) can be inferred from the social structure and morphological differences of characters among the sexes of a species. We described the burrow use pattern and sexual dimorphism of the burrowing shrimp Lepidophthalmus bocourti to infer the mating system in this species. L. bocourti showed a complex social structure composed of both solitary shrimps and homosexual and heterosexual pairs and trios of shrimps. This burrow use pattern is allied with sexual dimorphism both in body (when it came to male-female associations) and in cheliped size.

2025, New Male Studies

Women's mate choice, given profoundly differential male genetic quality (specifically genomic integrity), is heavily skewed towards topmost-ranked males, producing polygyny with residual monogamy and bachelordom. Polygyny is ancestral, as in gorilla harems (apparently homologous with human female cliques): originally predation-avoidance grouping, male-interposed to obviate female-female stress depressing fertility to sub-replacement (Dunbar). Pair-bonding ensures successive highest-possible-quality offspring while offsetting age-related fertility decline, and dissuading low-mate-value social-sexual approach, thereby actually facilitating access by (or to) high-mate-value males for extra-pair conception. It's a female fertility platform and springboard for its enhancement. Failure properly to incorporate male heterogeneity and female discernment explains a longstanding theoretical impasse, with infanticide prevention a default mistaken hypothesis attempting to account for monogamy's chimerical opportunity costs.

2025, New Male Studies