The Determination of Sex and Polymorphism in Microevolution

Abstract

AbstractEnvironmental instabilities may be grouped into three broad categories each with different conseqences for the organism which has to survive the stress of these instabilities. On one side are irreversible changes of the environment which will lead to complete adaptive compliance or conformity of the population, brought about by natural selection. On the other side are short-term recurrent instabilities, fluctuations, or oscillations; if their cycle is short enough so that all phases are experienced by all individuals of each generation, natural selection will promote the ability of each individual to withstand the whole range of environmental recurrent fluctuations. Between these extremes are recurrent instabilities that are not experienced by all individuals, or by each generation; here natural selection will evolve mechanisms that prevent the population from conforming with any temporary selection pressure. Polymorphism is such a mechanism, specifically polymorphism based on a gene potency balance system modelled on the same principles as the system that determines sex, the most common example of polymorphism. Instances of such polymorphism in a genus of tortricid moths include haemolymph pigment, adult wing colour, and rate of larval development. The latter exemplifies polymorphism of a quantitative character.