You're The One: Evolution of Monogamy via Fecundity Selection (2024)

Undergraduates: Nayan Bala, Anish Aradhey, Allana Adams, Lesley Canseco

Faculty Advisor: Maria Servedio
Department: Biology

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The selection pressures by which monogamous mating can evolve over polygynous mating are understudied. To explore this concept, we created a haploid population genetic model for the evolution of monogamous mating in the presence of fecundity selection. We assume sexual selection within polygynous individuals. We found that a fecundity benefit is required for the monogamy allele to increase in frequency, and that the equilibrium value of the monogamy allele increases with stronger sexual selection. Our results suggest that fecundity selection could be a reasonable explanation for the evolution of monogamy in a dual-mating system species, but further analysis is required.