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Related Concept Videos

Frequency-dependent Selection01:21

Frequency-dependent Selection

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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.
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Types of Selection01:46

Types of Selection

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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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Predator-Prey Interactions02:39

Predator-Prey Interactions

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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.
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Limits to Natural Selection01:38

Limits to Natural Selection

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Organisms that are well-adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. However, natural selection does not lead to perfectly adapted organisms. Several factors constrain natural selection.
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Speciation Rates01:07

Speciation Rates

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Overview
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Mate Choice01:20

Mate Choice

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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.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 4, 2025

Manipulation of Color Patterns in Jumping Spiders for Use in Behavioral Experiments
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Habitat heterogeneity limits prey colour polymorphism maintained via negative frequency-dependent selection.

Gopal Murali1, Ullasa Kodandaramaiah1, Sami Merilaita2

  • 1IISER-TVM Centre for Research and Education in Ecology and Evolution (ICREEE), School of Biology, Thiruvananthapuram, India.

Journal of Evolutionary Biology
|February 1, 2024
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Negative frequency-dependent selection can promote prey polymorphism in heterogeneous environments, but only when fitness differences are small. Prey and predator mobility influence the maintenance of this local variation.

Keywords:
apostatic selectionbackground heterogeneitycolour polymorphismcrypsisfrequency-dependent selectionsearch imageswitching

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Population Genetics

Background:

  • Stabilizing selection typically reduces trait variation, making non-neutral trait polymorphism persistence enigmatic.
  • Negative frequency-dependent selection (NFDS) favors rare variants, potentially maintaining polymorphism in prey coloration.
  • Habitat heterogeneity can impose disruptive selection, leading to spatial segregation of color morphs.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if NFDS can overcome habitat heterogeneity to promote local prey polymorphism.
  • To assess the impact of prey and predator mobility on the maintenance of local polymorphism.

Main Methods:

  • An individual-based model was developed to simulate interactions between prey and predators in heterogeneous environments.
  • The model incorporated frequency-dependent predation, habitat-specific fitness differences, and varying levels of prey and predator mobility.
  • Simulations explored how gene flow and spatial changes in morph frequencies affected local polymorphism.

Main Results:

  • NFDS strongly promoted local prey polymorphism, but only when patch-specific fitness differences among morphs were minimal.
  • Predator search image adaptation and prey population structure influenced the effectiveness of NFDS.
  • Prey gene flow partially counteracted local selection, facilitating polymorphism, while abrupt spatial morph frequency changes hindered mobile predator-based polymorphism maintenance.

Conclusions:

  • NFDS can contribute to maintaining local prey polymorphism in spatially heterogeneous environments under specific conditions.
  • The balance between NFDS, habitat heterogeneity, and movement patterns is crucial for the persistence of trait variation.
  • Limited fitness differences and specific predator-prey dynamics are necessary for NFDS to overcome spatial segregation.