Affiliation:
1. Department of Mathematics, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK
Abstract
Natural selection favours phenotypes that match prevailing ecological conditions. A rapid process of adaptation is therefore required in changing environments. Maternal effects can facilitate such responses, but it is currently poorly understood under which circumstances maternal effects may accelerate or slow down the rate of phenotypic evolution. Here, we use a quantitative genetic model, including phenotypic plasticity and maternal effects, to suggest that the relationship between fitness and phenotypic variance plays an important role. Intuitive expectations that positive maternal effects are beneficial are supported following an extreme environmental shift, but, if too strong, that shift can also generate oscillatory dynamics that overshoot the optimal phenotype. In a stable environment, negative maternal effects that slow phenotypic evolution actually minimize variance around the optimum phenotype and thus maximize population mean fitness.
Subject
Biomedical Engineering,Biochemistry,Biomaterials,Bioengineering,Biophysics,Biotechnology
Reference50 articles.
1. Developmental Plasticity and Evolution
2. Is evolvability evolvable?
3. Putting evolutionary biology back in the ecological theatre: a demographic framework mapping genes to communities;Coulson T.;Evol. Ecol. Res.,2006
4. Nongenetic Inheritance and Its Evolutionary Implications
Cited by
61 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献