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Runaway coevolution: adaptation to heritable and nonheritable environments.

Devin M Drown1, Michael J Wade

  • 1Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, 47405. devin@drown.com.

Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution
|June 12, 2014
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Populations adapt faster to heritable environments through coevolution than to nonheritable ones. This rapid adaptation, driven by reciprocal selection, can lead to diversification and reproductive isolation.

Keywords:
G × Egenotype by environmentindirect genetic effects

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Population genetics

Background:

  • Populations adapt to environmental pressures, which can be abiotic (non-heritable) or biotic (heritable).
  • Understanding the mechanisms driving adaptation rates is crucial for evolutionary studies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the speed of adaptation to heritable (biotic) versus non-heritable (abiotic) environments.
  • To investigate the role of reciprocal selection and genetic factors in adaptive coevolution.

Main Methods:

  • Theoretical modeling of population evolution under different environmental scenarios.
  • Analysis of genetic adaptation rates influenced by selection coefficients, gene linkage, and inbreeding.

Main Results:

  • Coevolutionary adaptation to heritable environments is significantly faster than adaptation to abiotic environments, even with identical selection pressures.
  • Reciprocal selection between genes and heritable environments creates positive associations, driving rapid adaptive coevolution.
  • Inbreeding accelerates coadaptation more than genetic linkage by reducing functional recombination over generations.

Conclusions:

  • Adaptation to local abiotic variations can indirectly drive rapid population diversification and reproductive isolation through effects on heritable environments.
  • The interplay between genes and heritable environments is a powerful engine for evolutionary change and speciation.