Pair bond
In biology, a pair bond is the strong affinity that develops in some species between a mating pair, often leading to the production and rearing of young and potentially a lifelong bond. Pair-bonding is a term coined in the 1940s[1] that is frequently used in sociobiology and evolutionary biology circles. The term often implies either a lifelong socially monogamous relationship or a stage of mating interaction in socially monogamous species. It is sometimes used in reference to human relationships.
Varieties
According to evolutionary psychologists David P. Barash and Judith Lipton, from their 2001 book The Myth of Monogamy, there are several varieties of pair bonds:[2]
- Short-term pair-bond: a transient mating or associations
- Long-term pair-bond: bonded for a significant portion of the life cycle of that pair
- Lifelong pair-bond: mated for life
- Social pair-bond: attachments for territorial or social reasons
- Clandestine pair-bond: quick extra-pair copulations
- Dynamic pair-bond: e.g. gibbon mating systems being analogous to "divorce"
Human pair bonding
Humans can experience all of the above-mentioned varieties of pair bonds. These bonds can be temporary or last a lifetime. Pair bonding is a behavioral and physiological bond between two mated individuals, and is rare among non-human primates.[3] Humans also engage in social pair bonding, where two individuals will form a close relationship that does not involve sex.[4] In humans and other vertebrates, pair bonds are created by a combination of social interaction and biological factors including neurotransmitters like oxytocin, vasopressin, and dopamine.[4][5]
Pair bonds are a biological phenomenon and are not equivalent to the human social institution of marriage. Married couples are not necessarily pair bonded. Marriage may be a consequence of pair bonding and vice versa. One of the functions of romantic love is pair bonding.[6][4]
Examples
Birds
Close to ninety percent
When discussing the social life of the
For about four days immediately prior to egg-laying, when copulations lead to fertilization, the male bank swallow is very busy, attentively guarding his female. Before this time, as well as after—that is, when her eggs are not ripe, and again after his genes are safely tucked away inside the shells—he goes seeking extra-pair copulations with the mates of other males…who, of course, are busy with defensive mate-guarding of their own.
In various species, males provide parental care and females mate with multiple males. For example, recent studies show that extra-pair copulation frequently occurs in monogamous birds in which a "social" father provides intensive care for its "social" offspring.[9] Furthermore, it was observed that newly formed pair bonds in biparental plovers were comparatively weaker than those in uniparental plovers.[10]
Fish
A University of Florida scientist reports that male sand gobies work harder at building nests and taking care of eggs when females are present – the first time such "courtship parental care" has been documented in any species.[11]
In the cichlid species
Pair bonding may also have non-reproductive benefits, such as assisted resource defense.[15] Recent study comparing two species of butterflyfishes, C. baronessa and C. lunulatus, indicate increase in food and energy reserves compared to individual fish.[16] However, there is limited research on the advantages of long-term pair boding and increased fitness.
Mammals
Monogamous
Peptide arginine vasopressin (AVP), dopamine, and oxytocin act in this region to coordinate rewarding activities such as mating, and regulate selective affiliation. These species-specific differences have shown to correlate with social behaviors, and in monogamous prairie voles are important for facilitation of pair bonding. When compared to montane voles, which are polygamous, monogamous prairie voles appear to have more of these AVP and oxytocin neurotransmitter receptors. It is important that these receptors are in the reward centers of the brain because that could lead to a conditioned partner preference in the prairie vole compared to the montane vole which would explain why the prairie vole forms pair bonds and the montane vole does not.[7][17]
As noted above, different species of voles vary in their sexual behavior, and these differences correlate with expression levels of vasopressin receptors in reward areas of the brain. Scientists were able to change adult male montane voles' behavior to resemble that of monogamous prairie voles in experiments in which vasopressin receptors were introduced into the brain of male montane voles.[citation needed]
See also
- Affectional bond
- Attachment theory
- Animal sexuality
- Breeding pair
- Human bonding
- Monogamous pairing in animals
- Monogamy
- r/K selection theory
References
- ^ "Pair-bond". Home : Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford English Dictionary. 2005.
- ^ ISBN 978-0805071368.
- ISBN 978-0-387-34585-7.
- ^ a b c Fuentes A (9 May 2012). "On Marriage and Pair Bonds". Psychology Today. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- ^ Garcia C (May 2019). The Role of Oxytocin on Social Behavior Associated with the Formation of a Social Pair-Bond in the Socially Monogamous Convict Cichlid (Amatitlania nigrofasciata) (PhD thesis). Winthrop University.
- PMID 33912094.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-309-08718-6. Archivedfrom the original on 6 February 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2018 – via www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
- ^ Berger M (10 February 2012). "Till Death do them Part: 8 Birds that Mate for Life". National Audubon Society. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
- S2CID 23771617.; Lay summary in: "New Study Explores The Evolution Of Male Parental Care And Female Multiple Mating". ScienceDaily. Archivedfrom the original on 2015-09-05.
- S2CID 15727544.
- doi:10.1093/beheco/arg107.; Lay summary in: "For A Male Sand Goby, Playing 'Mr. Mom' Is Key To Female's Heart". ScienceDaily. Archivedfrom the original on 2016-03-05.
- PMID 24293682.
- PMID 22114323.
- PMID 33354425.
- S2CID 238234968.
- PMID 29674741.
- S2CID 4340500.
Further reading
- Young LJ, Wang Z (October 2004). "The neurobiology of pair bonding". Nature Neuroscience. 7 (10): 1048–1054. S2CID 894249.