EXTRAORDINARY AFLP FINGERPRINT SIMILARITY DESPITE STRONG ASSORTATIVE MATING BETWEEN REEF FISH COLOR MORPHOSPECIES

Extraordinary AFLP fingerprint similarity despite strong assortative mating between reef fish color morphospecies.

Recent theoretical models and empirical studies of fruit flies, birds, and fish indicate that assortative mating may initiate speciation when physical barriers to gene flow are absent, and before postzygotic barriers evolve. These are important results for marine animals like coral reef fish, where ocean currents can carry planktonic larvae over broad ranges, interconnecting populations and slo...

Assortative Mating as a Barrier to Gene Flow in a Coral Reef Fish Species Flock

Color assortative mating contributes to sympatric divergence of neotropical cichlid fish.

It is still debated vigorously whether sexual selection can result in speciation without physical barriers to gene flow. In this study, we used field data and molecular methods to investigate the gold-normal color polymorphism in two endemic cichlid fish species of crater lake Xiloá, Nicaragua. We found significant assortative mating by color in both Amphilophus xiloaensis and A. sagittae. Focu...

Assortative mating without assortative preference.

Assortative mating--marriage of a man and a woman with similar social characteristics--is a commonly observed phenomenon. In the existing literature in both sociology and economics, this phenomenon has mainly been attributed to individuals' conscious preferences for assortative mating. In this paper, we show that patterns of assortative mating may arise from another structural source even if in...

Strong assortative mating between allopatric sticklebacks as a by-product of adaptation to different environments.

Speciation involves the evolution of reproductive isolation between populations. One potentially important mechanism is the evolution of pre- or postzygotic isolation between populations as a by-product of adaptation to different environments. In this paper, we tested for assortative mating between allopatric stickleback populations adapted to different ecological niches. Our experimental desig...