The stochastic encounter-mating model

TL;DR

This paper introduces a stochastic encounter-mating model for permanent pair formation in zoological populations, analyzing how different encounter and mating preference distributions influence population structure, including panmixia, homogamy, and heterogamy.

Contribution

It develops a comprehensive stochastic model for pair formation, extending previous models, and characterizes conditions for panmixia, homogamy, and heterogamy in populations.

Findings

Contingency table follows a multiple hypergeometric distribution under definite mating.

Poisson and Bernoulli firing times generalize previous models.

Conditions for panmixia are characterized and related to model parameters.

Abstract

We propose a new model of permanent monogamous pair formation in zoological populations with multiple types of females and males. According to this model, animals randomly encounter members of the opposite sex at their so-called firing times to form temporary pairs which then become permanent if mating happens. Given the distributions of the firing times and the mating preferences upon encounter, we analyze the contingency table of permanent pair types in three cases: (i) definite mating upon encounter; (ii) Poisson firing times; and (iii) Bernoulli firing times. In the first case, the contingency table has a multiple hypergeometric distribution which implies panmixia. The other two cases generalize the encounter-mating models of Gimelfarb (1988) who gives conditions that he conjectures to be sufficient for panmixia. We formulate adaptations of his conditions and prove that they not only characterize panmixia but also allow us to reduce the model to the first case by changing its underlying parameters. Finally, when there are only two types of females and males, we provide a full characterization of panmixia, homogamy and heterogamy.