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Types of Selection

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...

Frequency-dependent Selection

Frequency-dependent Selection

When the fitness of a trait is influenced by how common it is (i.e., its frequency) relative to different traits within a population, this is referred to as frequency-dependent selection. Frequency-dependent selection may occur between species or within a single species. This type of selection can either be positive—with more common phenotypes having higher fitness—or negative, with rarer phenotypes conferring increased fitness.

Predator-Prey Interactions

Predator-Prey Interactions

Predators consume prey for energy. Predators that acquire prey and prey that avoid predation both increase their chances of survival and reproduction (i.e., fitness). Routine predator-prey interactions elicit mutual adaptations that improve predator offenses, such as claws, teeth, and speed, as well as prey defenses, including crypsis, aposematism, and mimicry. Thus, predator-prey interactions resemble an evolutionary arms race.

Optimal Foraging

Optimal Foraging

How animals obtain and eat their food is called foraging behavior. Foraging can include searching for plants and hunting for prey and depends on the species and environment.

Mate Choice

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.

Fixed Action Patterns

Fixed Action Patterns

A fixed action pattern (FAP) is a specific, hard-wired sequence of behaviors that occurs in response to an external stimulus, called a sign stimulus. The behavior is “fixed” because it is essentially unchangeable—proceeding similarly across individuals of a species every time it occurs.

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Related Experiment Video

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A Real-Time Interactive System for Studying Confrontational Pursuit Behavior in Rodents

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Consistent selection towards low activity phenotypes when catchability depends on encounters among human predators

Josep Alós¹, Miquel Palmer, Robert Arlinghaus

¹Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, IMEDEA-CSIC-UIB, Esporles, Illes Balears, Spain. pep.alos@uib.es

|October 31, 2012

Summary

Fishing consistently selects for less active fish, reducing their swimming activity. Selection on fish home range size is less predictable due to movement patterns and fishing interactions.

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Fisheries Science

Background:

Fish behavior variability is a key factor in fishing vulnerability, alongside life-history and physiology.
Limited research exists on the selection pressures acting on fish behavioral traits due to fishing.

Purpose of the Study:

To theoretically investigate fishery-induced selection on fish behavior using an individual-based model.
To determine the direction and strength of selection on fish activity and home range size under different fishing scenarios.

Main Methods:

Developed an individual-based model (IBM) simulating fish movement (Lagrangian trajectories) within a home range (HR).
Incorporated various fishing styles targeting simulated fish, using in situ telemetry data for fish behavior input.
Analyzed selection differentials on activity and HR size based on simulated catch data.

Main Results:

Consistent negative selection was observed for fish activity across all fishing styles.
Selection on home range size was variable, with both positive and negative pressures identified.
Results partly supported the hypothesis that more active and explorative individuals are preferentially removed.

Conclusions:

Fishery-induced selection consistently favors less active fish phenotypes.
Selection on fish home range size is less predictable and influenced by movement stochasticity and predator-prey interactions.
Findings align with empirical observations of reduced swimming activity in heavily exploited fish populations.