∞ generated and posted on 2020.09.24 ∞
Process that can direct leads to fertilization as well as other forms of genetic mixing between organisms, e.g., conjugation.
| Mating is synonymous with acts associated with sexual reproduction and especially is associated in some manner with physical interactions, i.e., 'pairing', between the bodies of individual mating organisms. |
Often the concept of mating is envisaged to entail the interactions between two individual organisms rather than, for example, the broadcasting of pollen or sperm into environments – the latter as practiced by numerous marine invertebrates – with the intention of reaching potentially multiple mating targets.
The concept of mating as more generally applied, such as in terms of random mating, nonrandom mating, assortative mating, or even mating systems, is however simply a consideration of sexual reproduction as participated in across populations rather than something that takes into account physical interactions between the bodies.
For animals, "sex" is often employed to denote the process of mating as we normally would think of sex, but mating is a broader concept than that of, e.g., human sex. Sex also can be used to denote a broader array of concepts than simply mating, including as a synonym for gender.