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Environmental change can cause a population to fall below its Allee threshold by reducing the population size or by increasing the threshold if the latter depends on affected life-history traits. Evolutionary rescue then relies on overcoming the Allee effect, which gets increasingly difficult as the population declines. Despite mate-finding Allee effects being common, most models of evolutionary rescue assume that mating is assured even at low densities. Here, we set up a population genetic model to study the potential for evolutionary rescue of a population below its Allee threshold. For the analysis, we combine stochastic computer simulations with mathematical arguments. As expected, mate limitation can severely impede rescue, but the extent differs across sexual systems. We further show that it shifts the optimal sex ratio for dioecious but not for androdioecious populations, alters optimal evolutionary routes when there are trade-offs between increasing mate-finding efficiency and fecundity, and enhances the importance of standing genetic variation relative to de novo mutants. Overall, our results highlight the importance of accounting for positive density dependence in the assessment of a population\u2019s scope for evolutionary rescue.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1093\/evolut\/qpag095","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,26]],"date-time":"2026-05-26T11:15:01Z","timestamp":1779794101000},"page":"1733-1747","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["How do mate-finding Allee effects affect evolutionary rescue?"],"prefix":"10.1093","volume":"80","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6948-7089","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Puneeth","family":"Deraje","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto , Toronto, Ontario ,","place":["Canada"]},{"name":"Research group Stochastic Evolutionary Dynamics, Department of Theoretical Biology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology , Pl\u00f6n ,","place":["Germany"]},{"name":"Department of Mathematics, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research , Mohali ,","place":["India"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9435-2813","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hildegard","family":"Uecker","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research group Stochastic Evolutionary Dynamics, Department of Theoretical Biology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology , Pl\u00f6n ,","place":["Germany"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026081706063909600_bib1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1161","DOI":"10.1111\/eva.12221","article-title":"Evolutionary rescue: Linking theory for conservation and medicine","volume":"7","author":"Alexander","year":"2014","journal-title":"Evolutionary Applications"},{"key":"2026081706063909600_bib2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e71358","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0071358","article-title":"Climate influences fledgling sex ratio and sex-specific dispersal in a seabird","volume":"8","author":"dBarros","year":"2013","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"2026081706063909600_bib3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"223","DOI":"10.1007\/s12080-011-0118-0","article-title":"Introgressive hybridization as a mechanism for species rescue","volume":"4","author":"Baskett","year":"2011","journal-title":"Theoretical Ecology"},{"key":"2026081706063909600_bib4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"225","DOI":"10.1007\/s12080-017-0361-0","article-title":"Mate search and mate-finding Allee effect: On modeling mating in sex-structured population models","volume":"11","author":"Berec","year":"2018","journal-title":"Theoretical Ecology"},{"key":"2026081706063909600_bib5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"972","DOI":"10.1111\/oik.05941","article-title":"Allee effects under climate change","volume":"128","author":"Berec","year":"2019","journal-title":"Oikos"},{"key":"2026081706063909600_bib6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"185","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tree.2006.12.002","article-title":"Multiple Allee effects and population management","volume":"22","author":"Berec","year":"2007","journal-title":"Trends in Ecology and Evolution"},{"key":"2026081706063909600_bib7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"24","DOI":"10.1111\/1365-2656.12662","article-title":"Density-dependent selection on mate search and evolution of Allee effects","volume":"87","author":"Berec","year":"2018","journal-title":"Journal of Animal Ecology"},{"key":"2026081706063909600_bib8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"802","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1461-0248.2004.00632.x","article-title":"Allee effects, mating systems and the extinction risk in populations with two sexes","volume":"7","author":"Bessa-Gomes","year":"2004","journal-title":"Ecology Letters"},{"key":"2026081706063909600_bib9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"291","DOI":"10.1111\/j.0030-1299.2004.12853.x","article-title":"Mate limited reproductive success in two dioicous mosses","volume":"104","author":"Bisang","year":"2004","journal-title":"Oikos"},{"key":"2026081706063909600_bib10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"369","DOI":"10.1007\/BF01237760","article-title":"Time and energy constraints and the evolution of sexual size dimorphism? 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