Varieties of monogamy
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{{Close Relationships}}Recent discoveries have led biologists to talk about the three '''varieties of [[monogamy]]''': social monogamy, sexual monogamy, and genetic monogamy. The distinction between these three are important to the modern understanding of monogamy.
==Social, sexual, and genetic monogamy==
Social [[monogamy]] refers to two people who live together, have sex with one another, and cooperate in acquiring basic resources such as food, clothes, and money. Sexual monogamy refers to two people who remain sexually exclusive with one another and have no outside sex partners. Genetic monogamy refers to the fact that two partners only have offspring with one another.
Monogamous pairs of animals are not always sexually exclusive. Many animals that form pairs to mate and raise offspring regularly engage in sexual activities with partners other than their primary mate. This is called '''extra-pair copulation'''.
<ref name="Ågren,Zhou,Zhong,1989">Ågren, G., Zhou, Q. & Zhong, W. (1989). Ecology and social behaviour of Mongolian gerbils Meriones unguiculatus, at Xiliuhot, Inner Mongolia, China. Animal Behaviour, 37, 11-27.</ref>
<ref name="Barash,1981">Barash, D.P. (1981). Mate guarding and gallivanting by male hoary marmots (Marmota caligata). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 9, 187-193.</ref>
<ref name="Birkhead,Møller,1995">Birkhead, T.R. & Møller, A.P. (1995). Extra-pair copulations and extra-pair paternity in birds. Animal Behaviour, 49, 843-848.</ref>
<ref name="Birkhead,Møller,1996">Birkhead, T.R. & Møller, A.P. (1996). Monogamy and sperm competition in birds. In J. M. Black (Ed.), Partnerships in Birds: The Study of Monogamy (pp. 323-343). Oxford: Oxford University Press.</ref>
<ref name="Foltz,1981">Foltz, D.W. (1981). Genetic evidence for long-term monogamy in a small rodent, Peromyscus polionotus. American Naturalist, 117, 665-675.</ref>
<ref name="Gursky,2000">Gursky, S.L. (2000). Sociality in the spectral tarsier, Tarsius spectrum. American Journal of Primatology, 51, 89-101.</ref>
<ref name="Hasselquist,Sherman,2001"> Hasselquist, D. S. & Sherman, P.W. (2001). Social mating systems and extrapair fertilizations in passerine birds. Behavioral Ecology, 12, 457-66.</ref>
<ref name="Hubrecht,1985">Hubrecht, R.C. (1985). Home range size and use and territorial behavior in the common marmoset, Callithrix jacchus jacchus, at the Tapacura Field Station, Recife, Brazil. International Journal of Primatology, 6, 533-550.</ref>
<ref name="Mason,1966">Mason, W.A. (1966). Social organization of the South American monkey, Callicebus moloch: a preliminary report. Tulane Studies in Zoology, 13, 23-28.</ref>
<ref name="McKinney,Derrickson,Mineau,1983">McKinney, F., Derrickson, S.R., & Mineau, P. (1983). Forced copulation in waterfowl. Behaviour, 86, 250-294.</ref>
<ref name=Reichard,1995">Reichard, U. (1995). Extra-pair Copulations in a Monogamous Gibbon (Hylobates lar). Ethology, 100, 99-112.</ref>
<ref name="Reichard,2002">Reichard, U.H. (2002). Monogamy—A variable relationship. Max Planck Research, 3, 62-67.</ref>
<ref name="Richardson,1987">Richardson, P.R.K. (1987). Aardwolf mating system: overt cuckoldry in an apparently monogamous mammal. South African Journal of Science, 83, 405-412.</ref>
<ref name="Welsh,Sedinger,1990"> Welsh, D. & Sedinger, J.S. (1990). Extra-Pair copulations in Black Brant. The Condor, 92, 242-244.</ref>
<ref name="Westneat,Stewart,2003>Westneat, D.F. & Stewart, I.R.K. (2003). Extra-pair paternity in birds: causes, correlates, and conflict. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 34, 365-396.</ref>
Sometimes these extra-pair sexual activities lead to offspring. Genetic tests frequently show that some of the offspring raised by a monogamous pair come from the female mating with an extra-pair male partner.
<ref name="Birkhead,Møller,1995"/>
<ref name="Birkhead,Møller,1996"/>
<ref name="Owens,Hartley,1998">Owens, I.P.F. & Hartley, I.R. (1998). Sexual dimorphism in birds: why are there so many different forms of dimorphism? Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, B265, 397–407.</ref>
<ref name="Solomon,Keane,Knoch,Hogan,2004">Solomon, N.G., Keane, B., Knoch, L.R., & Hogan, P.J. (2004). Multiple paternity in socially monogamous prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). Canadian Journal of Zoology, 82, 1667-1671.</ref> These discoveries have led biologists to adopt new ways of talking about monogamy:
<blockquote>
"Social monogamy refers to a male and female's social living arrangement (e.g., shared use of a territory, behaviour indicative of a social pair, and/or proximity between a male and female) without inferring any sexual interactions or reproductive patterns. In humans, social monogamy equals [[monogamous marriage]]. Sexual monogamy is defined as an exclusive sexual relationship between a female and a male based on observations of sexual interactions. Finally, the term genetic monogamy is used when DNA analyses can confirm that a female-male pair reproduce exclusively with each other. A combination of terms indicates examples where levels of relationships coincide, e.g., sociosexual and sociogenetic monogamy describe corresponding social and sexual, and social and genetic monogamous relationships, respectively." (Reichard, 2003, page 4) <ref>Reichard, U.H. (2003). Monogamy: Past and present. In U.H. Reichard and C. Boesch (Eds.), Monogamy: Mating strategies and partnerships in birds, humans, and other
mammals (pp.3-25).Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</ref>
</blockquote>
Whatever makes a pair of animals socially monogamous does not necessarily make them sexually or genetically monogamous. Social monogamy, sexual monogamy, and genetic monogamy can occur in different combinations.
When applying these terms to people, it's important to remember that social monogamy does not always involve marriage. A married couple is almost always a socially monogamous couple. But couples who choose to [[cohabitation|cohabit]] without getting married can also be socially monogamous.
==Serial monogamy==
The term [[serial monogamy]] does not refer to a fourth type of monogamy. The three types of monogamy recognized by biologists (social monogamy, sexual monogamy, and genetic monogamy) describe the relationship between a particular pair of partners. The term serial monogamy describes the history of a single individual across multiple socially monogamous relationships.
In animals, serial monogamy often means that an animal will have a different, but exclusive, breeding partner each mating season.
==References==
<references />
==See also==
{{wikiquote | monogamy}}
* [[Monogamy]]
* [[Incidence of Monogamy]]
* [[Value of Monogamy]]
* [[Psychology of Monogamy]]
* [[Evolution of Monogamy]]
* [[Pair bonding]]
* [[Serial monogamy]]
* [[Open marriage]]
* [[Swinging]]
* [[Affair]]
* [[Forms of nonmonogamy]]
* [[Polyamory]]
* [[Polygamy]]
* [[Polyfidelity]]
* [[Free love]]
* [[Group marriage]]
* [[Cohabitation]]
* [[Marriage]]
* [[Divorce]]
* [[Mating system]]
* [[sexual conflict]]
* [[Animal sexuality#Mating Systems|Animal Sexuality]]
* [[Jealousy]]
[[Category:Marriage]]
[[Category:Mating systems]]
[[Category:Sexual fidelity]]