disassortative mating
- noun
- Specialized
:
apareamiento desasociativo
- Scientists observed disassortative mating patterns, where individuals chose partners with different immune system genes.
Examples
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Unlike assortative mating, disassortative mating can increase the frequency of rare traits within a group.
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In some species, disassortative mating helps maintain genetic variation in the population.
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The concept of disassortative mating is crucial for understanding genetic diversity.
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Many species exhibit disassortative matings to enhance their genetic variability.
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In some species, disassortative mating helps maintain genetic variation in the population.
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Scientists observed disassortative mating patterns, where individuals selected partners with different traits, promoting genetic diversity.
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Unlike assortative mating, disassortative mating increases the likelihood of offspring having varied and unique characteristics.
Antonyms
- Specialized
1
8.9
People and animals choose mates who are similar in traits like education or color
How Dissimilar
- Specialized
- Specialized
1
8.9
Surface Forms
Morphology
disassortative + mating
The phrase is compositionally built: 'mating' (pairing for reproduction) combined with 'disassortative' (negation of 'assortative', i.e. not preferring similar partners), so the overall meaning — mating between more dissimilar individuals — is derivable from the parts. However, 'assortative/disassortative' is specialized, low-frequency vocabulary and requires morphological analysis of the prefix dis- and the technical base 'assortative', which makes the expression only partially accessible to an average B1 learner.
Etymology
Disassortative mating paints a picture of animals or people choosing mates who are different from themselves instead of similar. So, it means 'mating with different partners', and this mixing helps keep more 'variety' in the group's genes.