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Migration

Migration

Migration is long-range, seasonal movement from one region or habitat to another. This common strategy, carried out by many different organisms around the world, is an adaptive response that typically corresponds to changes in an organism’s environment, like resource availability or climate. Migrations can involve huge groups of thousands of animals as well as single individuals traveling alone and can range from thousands of kilometers to just a few hundred meters.

Speciation Rates

Speciation Rates

Speciation can proceed at markedly different rates, and evolutionary biologists commonly describe these differences through the models of gradualism and punctuated equilibrium. Both patterns explain how new species arise, but they differ in the tempo and continuity of evolutionary change. In both cases, evolutionary change arises from heritable variation within populations, with natural selection often shaping traits that improve survival and reproduction under specific environmental conditions.

Evolution of New Traits in Microbes

Evolution of New Traits in Microbes

Microorganisms evolve rapidly due to their large population sizes and short generation times, often exhibiting measurable changes within days under laboratory conditions. Natural selection acts on standing genetic variation, enabling the retention and amplification of beneficial traits that confer fitness advantages in changing environments.Adaptive Pigment Regulation in RhodobacterIn Rhodobacter, a genus of purple non-sulfur bacteria, light-harvesting pigments such as bacteriochlorophyll and...

Gene Flow

Gene Flow

Gene flow is the transfer of genes among populations, resulting from either the dispersal of gametes or from the migration of individuals.

Genetic Drift

Genetic Drift

Natural selection—probably the most well-known evolutionary mechanism—increases the prevalence of traits that enhance survival and reproduction. However, evolution does not merely propagate favorable traits, nor does it always benefit populations.Life is not fair. A deer grazing contentedly in a field can have her meal cut tragically short by a bolt of lightning. If the doomed doe is one of only three in the population, 1/3 of the population’s gene pool is lost. Random events like this can...

Mutation, Gene Flow, and Genetic Drift

Mutation, Gene Flow, and Genetic Drift

In a population that is not at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, the frequency of alleles changes over time. Therefore, any deviations from the five conditions of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium can alter the genetic variation of a given population. Conditions that change the genetic variability of a population include mutations, natural selection, non-random mating, gene flow, and genetic drift (small population size).Mechanisms of Genetic VariationThe original sources of genetic variation are mutations,...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Resurrection of Dormant Daphnia magna: Protocol and Applications

Resurrection of Dormant Daphnia magna: Protocol and Applications

Published on: January 19, 2018

Evolution of migration in a periodically changing environment.

F Blanquart¹, S Gandon

¹Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Unité Mixte de Recherche 5175, 1919 route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France. francois.blanquart@cefe.cnrs.fr

The American Naturalist

|April 5, 2011

Summary

Environmental changes influence migration evolution. Faster environmental shifts favor higher migration when cost-free, but intermediate shifts are optimal when migration is costly, impacting local adaptation.

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Population genetics
Theoretical ecology

Background:

Migration patterns are shaped by environmental pressures.
Spatial heterogeneity in selection favors local adaptation and can oppose migration.
Temporal variation in selection adds complexity to understanding migration evolution.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how spatial and temporal variability in selection affects the evolution of migration.
To model the evolutionarily stable migration rate under dynamic environmental conditions.
To determine migration strategies that maximize local adaptation in fluctuating environments.

Main Methods:

Developed a two-locus genetic model.
Analyzed selection at a locus under temporally varying conditions and a modifier locus for migration.
Derived analytical expressions for local adaptation and evolutionarily stable migration rates.

Main Results:

Migration rate maximizing local adaptation depends on the speed and geometry of environmental fluctuations.
When migration is cost-free, faster environmental changes select for higher migration rates.
When migration is costly, intermediate environmental variation speeds yield the highest evolutionarily stable migration rate.

Conclusions:

Environmental variability plays a crucial role in shaping migration evolution.
The relationship between migration rate and environmental fluctuation speed is complex and depends on migration costs.
This model provides insights into migration dynamics in systems like host-parasite interactions with rapid environmental changes.