Digest: The evolution of sexual imprinting as an assortative mating mechanism* |
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Authors: | Kwan Lung Elroy Au |
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Affiliation: | Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia |
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Abstract: | In this issue, Yeh et al. (2018) investigated whether sexual imprinting could act as an assortative mating mechanism, reducing hybridization and increasing premating isolation. While they indeed find that imprinting leads to assortative mating and reduced hybridization, the strength at which imprinting evolves is usually intermediate, because it is counterbalanced by the costs of imprinting and the benefits of adaptive hybridization. Thus, while sexual imprinting can act as an assortative mating mechanism, it is often not the sole element of female mate choice. |
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