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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.Positive Frequency-Dependent SelectionIn positive...

Conservation of Declining Populations

Conservation of Declining Populations

Conservation of declining population focuses on ways of detecting, diagnosing, and halting a population decline. The approach uses methods to prevent populations from going extinct.

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.

Convergent Evolution

Convergent Evolution

Evolution shapes the features of organisms over time, ensuring that they are suited for the environments in which they live. Sometimes, selection pressure leads to the rise of similar but unrelated adaptations in organisms with no recent common ancestors, a process known as convergent evolution.The structures that arise from convergent evolution are called analogous structures. They are similar in function even if they are dissimilar in structure. Further, structures can be analogous while also...

Hybrid Zones

Hybrid Zones

Hybrid zones are narrow regions where two closely related species interact, mate, and produce hybrids. Relative to either parent species, hybrids may possess distinct phenotypic or genetic differences that impact their survival and reproductive success. The genetic variances introduced by hybridization influence species diversity and speciation processes within the hybrid zone.Gene flow and natural selection are evolutionary mechanisms that shape the outcome of a hybrid zone. Gene flow...

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Shifting Balancing Selection Underlies an Inversion Cline in Eurasian Blackcap.

Jun Ishigohoka^1,2, Miriam Liedvogel^1,3,4

¹MPRG Behavioural Genomics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology Plön Germany.

Ecology and Evolution

|June 18, 2026

Summary

Shifting balancing selection, specifically negative frequency-dependent selection (NFDS), drives a unique inversion cline across the Eurasian blackcap range. This study reveals NFDS

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary genetics
Population genomics
Speciation research

Background:

Chromosomal inversions can generate clines due to divergent selection.
Balancing selection also maintains inversion polymorphisms, but its role in generating clines is less understood.
The Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) exhibits a unique inversion cline (inv_12_3) spanning its entire range.

Purpose of the Study:

Investigate the mechanism driving the inversion cline in Eurasian blackcaps.
Determine if spatial heterogeneity in balancing selection can generate inversion clines.
Identify the specific type of balancing selection acting on the inv_12_3 inversion.

Main Methods:

Demography inference
Population genomic simulation under blackcap demography
Approximate Bayesian computation (ABC)

Main Results:

The inv_12_3 cline is not explained by divergent selection.
Negative frequency-dependent selection (NFDS) with spatially varying parameters underlies the cline.
NFDS shows a lower optimal frequency on islands compared to the mainland.

Conclusions:

This is the first study to suggest NFDS underlies an inversion cline.
Shifting balancing selection plays a significant role in generating complex patterns of genetic variation.
The findings highlight the importance of considering spatially varying selection in evolutionary processes.