What is assortative mating?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Assortative mating refers to the tendency of individuals to mate with others who are similar to themselves in some way, such as in terms of physical appearance, personality traits, intelligence, or social status. This can be a mechanism for maintaining genetic variation within a population, as well as for generating new combinations of traits. It is not specifically related to genetic pairing on the locus (A) or Mendelian patterns of inheritance (B), although these factors may be influenced by assortative mating in some cases. The disappearance of recessive genes over several generations (D) may be due to various factors, such as genetic drift, natural selection, or genetic counseling, but is not a direct consequence of assortative mating.

What Is Assortative Mating