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Related Concept Videos

Mate Choice01:20

Mate Choice

Mate choice—the decision about whom to mate with—is a type of natural selection, since animals must reproduce to pass down their genes. Mate choice is also called intersexual selection because the behavior occurs between the sexes.
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Types of Selection

Natural selection influences the frequencies of particular alleles and phenotypes within populations in several different ways. Primarily, natural selection can be directional, stabilizing, or disruptive. Directional selection favors one extreme trait and shifts the population towards that phenotype while selecting against individuals displaying alternate traits. Stabilizing selection favors an intermediate trait with a narrow range of variation. Deviation from the optimal phenotype towards an...
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Organisms that are well-adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. However, natural selection does not lead to perfectly adapted organisms. Several factors constrain natural selection.For one, natural selection can only act upon existing genetic variation. Hypothetically, redtusks may enhance elephant survival by deterring ivory-seeking poachers. However, if there are no gene variants—or alleles—for redtusks, natural selection cannot increase the prevalence of...
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Genetics of Speciation

Speciation is the evolutionary process resulting in the formation of new, distinct species—groups of reproductively isolated populations.The genetics of speciation involves the different traits or isolating mechanisms preventing gene exchange, leading to reproductive isolation. Reproductive isolation can be due to reproductive barriers that have effects either before or after the formation of a zygote. Pre-zygotic mechanisms prevent fertilization from occurring, and post-zygotic mechanisms...
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Genetic Variation

Genetic variation is the diversity in DNA sequences found among individuals of the same species. This diversity is crucial for a species' survival because it helps organisms adapt to environmental changes. Genetic variation begins with fertilization, where an egg and sperm cell merge. Each of these cells carries 23 chromosomes, up to 46 in the fertilized egg. Chromosomes are long DNA strands that contain genes, the basic units of heredity.
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Selection on heritable phenotypic plasticity in a wild bird population.

Daniel H Nussey1, Erik Postma, Phillip Gienapp

  • 1Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Post Office Box 40, 6666 ZG Heteren, Netherlands. d.h.nussey@sms.ed.ac.uk

Science (New York, N.Y.)
|October 15, 2005
PubMed
Summary

Great tits show heritable variation in reproductive timing plasticity. Selection favors these plastic traits, intensifying with climate change to help birds adapt to mismatched food availability.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Animal behavior
  • Climate change adaptation

Background:

  • Phenotypic plasticity is theorized to evolve under selection, but empirical evidence from wild populations is scarce.
  • Understanding the evolution of plasticity is crucial for predicting species' responses to environmental change.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the evolutionary potential of phenotypic plasticity in a wild bird population.
  • To determine if variation in reproductive timing plasticity is heritable and subject to selection.

Main Methods:

  • Studied a Dutch population of great tits (Parus major) over 32 years.
  • Assessed individual variation in the timing of reproduction and its heritability.
  • Analyzed selection pressures on plasticity in relation to climate change and prey availability.

Main Results:

  • Documented significant heritable variation in individual plasticity of breeding time.
  • Observed intensified selection favoring highly plastic individuals over the 32-year study period.
  • Correlated this trend with climate change-induced phenological mismatches with caterpillar prey.

Conclusions:

  • Heritable phenotypic plasticity in breeding time has significant evolutionary potential in wild populations.
  • Great tits exhibit adaptive evolution of plasticity in response to climate change.
  • Selection on plasticity can facilitate adaptation and mitigate the negative impacts of environmental change.