Assortative Mating in an Ecological Context: Effects of Mate Choice Errors and Relative Species Abundance on the Frequency and Asymmetry of Hybridization

Assortative Mating in an Ecological Context : Effects of Mate Choice Errors and Relative Species Abundance on the Frequency and Asymmetry of Hybridization

The frequency and asymmetry of mixed-species mating set the initial stage for the ecological and evolutionary implications of hybridization. How such patterns of mixed-species mating, in turn, are influenced by the combination of mate choice errors and relative species abundance remains largely unknown. We develop a mathematical model that generates predictions for how relative species abundances and mate choice errors affect hybridization patterns. When mate choice errors are small (<5%), the highest frequency of hybridization occurs when one of the hybridizing species is at low abundance, but when mate choice errors are high (>5%), the highest hybridization frequency occurs when species occur in equal proportions. Furthermore, females of the less abundant species are overrepresented in mixed-species matings. We compare our theoretical predictions with empirical data on naturally hybridizing Ficedula flycatchers and find that hybridization is highest when the two species occur in equal abundance, implying rather high mate choice errors. We discuss ecological and evolutionary implications of our findings and encourage future work on hybrid zone dynamics that take demographic aspects, such as relative species abundance, into account.

Veen, ThorQuest Univ Canada, Life Sci, Squamish, BC V8B 0N8, Canada. (author)
Husby, Arild,Associate Senior LecturerUppsala universitet,Evolutionsbiologi(Swepub:uu)arihu528 (author)
Ålund, MurielleUppsala universitet,Zooekologi(Swepub:uu)murpo485 (author)
Weissing, Franz J.Univ Groningen, Groningen Inst Evolutionary Life Sci, Nijenborgh 7, NL-9747 AG Groningen, Netherlands. (author)
Uppsala universitetZooekologi (creator_code:org_t)

In:American Naturalist: University of Chicago Press201:1, s. 125-1370003-01471537-5323

By the author/editor: Qvarnström, Anna; Veen, Thor; Husby, Arild, As ...; Ålund, Murielle; Weissing, Franz ...

About the subject

NATURAL SCIENCES: NATURAL SCIENCES; and Biological Scien ...; and Evolutionary Bio ...

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