scholarly journals Genetic Constraints on the Evolution of Mate Recognition under Natural Selection

2003 ◽  
Vol 161 (2) ◽  
pp. 240-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark W. Blows ◽  
Megan Higgie
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Mate Recognition ◽  
Genetic Constraints

scholarly journals Ant cuticular hydrocarbons are heritable and associated with variation in colony productivity

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1928) ◽  
pp. 20201029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Walsh ◽  
Luigi Pontieri ◽  
Patrizia d'Ettorre ◽  
Timothy A. Linksvayer
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Cuticular Hydrocarbons ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Genetic Correlations ◽  
Mate Recognition ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Evolutionary Features ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectories ◽  
Individual Hydrocarbons ◽  
Colony Productivity

In social insects, cuticular hydrocarbons function in nest-mate recognition and also provide a waxy barrier against desiccation, but basic evolutionary features, including the heritability of hydrocarbon profiles and how they are shaped by natural selection are largely unknown. We used a new pharaoh ant ( Monomorium pharaonis ) laboratory mapping population to estimate the heritability of individual cuticular hydrocarbons, genetic correlations between hydrocarbons, and fitness consequences of phenotypic variation in the hydrocarbons. Individual hydrocarbons had low to moderate estimated heritability, indicating that some compounds provide more information about genetic relatedness and can also better respond to natural selection. Strong genetic correlations between compounds are likely to constrain independent evolutionary trajectories, which is expected, given that many hydrocarbons share biosynthetic pathways. Variation in cuticular hydrocarbons was associated with variation in colony productivity, with some hydrocarbons experiencing strong directional selection. Altogether, this study builds on our knowledge of the genetic architecture of the social insect hydrocarbon profile and indicates that hydrocarbon variation is shaped by natural selection.

scholarly journals Evolutionary rescue and the limits of adaptation

2013 ◽  
Vol 368 (1610) ◽  
pp. 20120080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Bell
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Relative Fitness ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
Genetic Constraints ◽  
Evolutionary Rescue ◽  
Large Populations ◽  
Effective Selection ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Number Of Individuals

Populations subject to severe stress may be rescued by natural selection, but its operation is restricted by ecological and genetic constraints. The cost of natural selection expresses the limited capacity of a population to sustain the load of mortality or sterility required for effective selection. Genostasis expresses the lack of variation that prevents many populations from adapting to stress. While the role of relative fitness in adaptation is well understood, evolutionary rescue emphasizes the need to recognize explicitly the importance of absolute fitness. Permanent adaptation requires a range of genetic variation in absolute fitness that is broad enough to provide a few extreme types capable of sustained growth under a stress that would cause extinction if they were not present. This principle implies that population size is an important determinant of rescue. The overall number of individuals exposed to selection will be greater when the population declines gradually under a constant stress, or is progressively challenged by gradually increasing stress. In gradually deteriorating environments, survival at lethal stress may be procured by prior adaptation to sublethal stress through genetic correlation. Neither the standing genetic variation of small populations nor the mutation supply of large populations, however, may be sufficient to provide evolutionary rescue for most populations.

scholarly journals Temperature and Rainfall Are Separate Agents of Selection Shaping Population Differentiation in a Forest Tree

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1145
Author(s):  
João Costa e Silva ◽  
Brad Potts ◽  
Peter A. Harrison ◽  
Tanya Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Population Differentiation ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Direct Consequence ◽  
Arid Environment ◽  
Forest Tree ◽  
Machine Learning Algorithms ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Genetic Constraints

Research highlights: We present evidence indicating that covariation of functional traits among populations of a forest tree is not due to genetic constraints, but rather selective covariance arising from local adaptation to different facets of the climate, namely rainfall and temperature. Background and Aims: Traits frequently covary among natural populations. Such covariation can be caused by pleiotropy and/or linkage disequilibrium, but also may arise when the traits are genetically independent as a direct consequence of natural selection, drift, mutation and/or gene flow. Of particular interest are cases of selective covariance, where natural selection directly generates among-population covariance in a set of genetically independent traits. We here studied the causes of population-level covariation in two key traits in the Australian tree Eucalyptus pauciflora. Materials and Methods: We studied covariation in seedling lignotuber size and vegetative juvenility using 37 populations sampled from throughout the geographic and ecological ranges of E. pauciflora on the island of Tasmania. We integrated evidence from multiple sources: (i) comparison of patterns of trait covariation within and among populations; (ii) climate-trait modelling using machine-learning algorithms; and (iii) selection analysis linking trait variation to field growth in an arid environment. Results: We showed strong covariation among populations compared with the weak genetic correlation within populations for the focal traits. Population differentiation in these genetically independent traits was correlated with different home-site climate variables (lignotuber size with temperature; vegetative juvenility with rainfall), which spatially covaried. The role of selection in shaping the population differentiation in lignotuber size was supported by its relationship with fitness measured in the field. Conclusions: Our study highlights the multi-trait nature of adaptation likely to occur as tree species respond to spatial and temporal changes in climate.

Natural selection and "sudden death."

1979 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-275
Author(s):  
David Chiszar ◽  
Karlana Carpen
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Sudden Death

The Natural Selection of Minds

1998 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 263-264
Author(s):  
Joseph F. Rychlak
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Selection Of
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