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A polygenic model for the evolution and maintenance of conditional strategies
W N Hazel1, R Smock, M D Johnson
1Department of Biological Sciences, DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana 46135.
Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|December 22, 1990
Summary
This study presents a genetic model for conditional strategies, revealing they evolve to optimal levels through stabilizing selection when environmental variation creates fitness trade-offs. The optimum depends on environmental variation and trade-off magnitude.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Genetics
- Behavioral ecology
Background:
- Conditional strategies are crucial in variable environments.
- Phenotypic plasticity explains how organisms adjust traits.
- Understanding the evolution of conditional strategies is key.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a genetic model for conditional strategies.
- To contextualize conditional strategies within phenotypic plasticity.
- To determine factors influencing the evolution and maintenance of conditional strategies.
Main Methods:
- Developed a genetic model treating conditional strategies as polygenic threshold traits.
- Analyzed the role of genetic variation in reaction norms.
- Investigated the impact of environmental variation and fitness trade-offs.
Main Results:
- Conditional strategies evolve to optimum levels via stabilizing selection.
- Evolutionary optimum is influenced by environmental variation's probability density function.
- Magnitude of fitness trade-offs significantly affects the optimum level.
Conclusions:
- The genetic model accurately predicts the evolution of conditional strategies.
- Model predictions align well with empirical studies of three conditional strategies.
- Conditional strategies are maintained by selection when environmental variation imposes fitness costs.