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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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Protected polymorphisms and evolutionary stability of patch-selection strategies in stochastic environments.

Steven N Evans1, Alexandru Hening, Sebastian J Schreiber

  • 1Department of Statistics, University of California, #3860, 367 Evans Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3860, USA, evans@stat.berkeley.edu.

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Summary

This study explores how different morphs of a population coexist in a changing environment. Environmental changes can lead to coexistence or one morph displacing another, influencing habitat selection strategies.

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Population Genetics

Background:

  • Populations inhabit environments with spatial and temporal variations.
  • Individuals within a species can exhibit different morphs (genotypes/phenotypes).
  • Phenotypic differences can manifest in habitat selection strategies, impacting survival and reproduction.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compute invasion rates for different morphs in a patchy, stochastic environment.
  • To refine the mathematical characterization of an evolutionary stable strategy (ESS) for habitat selection.
  • To determine conditions for coexistence (protected polymorphism) versus competitive exclusion of morphs.

Main Methods:

  • Calculating invasion rates of rare morphs into established populations.
  • Analyzing conditions for the existence of an ESS utilizing all patches or a single patch.
  • Deriving explicit formulas for ESS in two-habitat systems.
  • Comparing ESS with and without environmental stochasticity.

Main Results:

  • Coexistence is possible if both morphs have positive invasion rates.
  • One morph can displace another if its invasion rate is negative.
  • Environmental stochasticity leads to ESS that favors patches with lower carrying capacities and potentially utilizes sink habitats.
  • This demonstrates a spatial bet-hedging strategy.

Conclusions:

  • Habitat selection strategies are crucial for population dynamics in variable environments.
  • Environmental stochasticity significantly alters optimal habitat selection strategies, promoting risk-spreading.
  • The study provides a rigorous framework for understanding evolutionary stable strategies in spatially and temporally heterogeneous landscapes.