Abstract:
Sexual selection plays a crucial role in modern evolutionary theory, offering valuable insight into evolutionary patterns and species diversity. Recently, a comprehensive definition of sexual selection has been proposed, defining it as any selection that arises from fitness differences associated with nonrandom success in the competition for access to gametes for fertilization. Previous research on discrete traits demonstrated that non-random mating can be effectively quantified using Jeffreys (or symmetrized Kullback-Leibler) divergence, capturing information acquired through mating influenced by mutual mating propensities instead of random occurrences. This novel theoretical framework allows for detecting and assessing the strength of sexual selection and assortative mating. In this study, we aim to achieve two primary objectives. Firstly, we demonstrate the seamless alignment of the previous theoretical development, rooted in information theory and mutual mating propensity, with the aforementioned definition of sexual selection. Secondly, we extend the theory to encompass quantitative traits. Our findings reveal that sexual selection and assortative mating can be quantified effectively for quantitative traits by measuring the information gain relative to the random mating pattern. The connection of the information indices of sexual selection with the classical measures of sexual selection is established. Additionally, if mating traits are normally distributed, the measure capturing the underlying information of assortative mating is a function of the square of the correlation coefficient, taking values within the non-negative real number set [0, +∞). It is worth noting that the same divergence measure captures information acquired through mating for both discrete and quantitative traits. This is interesting as it provides a common context and can help simplify the study of sexual selection patterns.
摘要:
性选择在现代进化论中起着至关重要的作用,提供对进化模式和物种多样性的宝贵见解。最近,已经提出了性选择的全面定义,将其定义为由于在获得配子受精的竞争中与非随机成功相关的适应性差异而产生的任何选择。先前对离散性状的研究表明,使用Jeffreys(或对称的Kullback-Leibler)分歧可以有效地量化非随机交配,捕获通过相互交配倾向而不是随机发生影响的交配获得的信息。这种新颖的理论框架可以检测和评估性选择和分类交配的强度。在这项研究中,我们的目标是实现两个主要目标。首先,我们展示了先前理论发展的无缝衔接,植根于信息论和相互交配倾向,上述性选择的定义。其次,我们将理论扩展到包括数量性状。我们的发现表明,通过测量相对于随机交配模式的信息增益,可以有效地量化定量性状的性选择和分类交配。建立了性选择的信息指数与性选择的经典度量之间的联系。此外,如果交配性状是正态分布的,捕获分类交配的基本信息的度量是相关系数平方的函数,在非负实数集[0,+∞)内取值。值得注意的是,相同的差异度量可以捕获通过交配获得的离散和数量性状的信息。这很有趣,因为它提供了一个共同的背景,可以帮助简化性选择模式的研究。