1
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Mallard F, Afonso B, Teotónio H. Selection and the direction of phenotypic evolution. eLife 2023; 12:e80993. [PMID: 37650381 PMCID: PMC10564456 DOI: 10.7554/elife.80993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2022] [Accepted: 07/14/2023] [Indexed: 09/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Predicting adaptive phenotypic evolution depends on invariable selection gradients and on the stability of the genetic covariances between the component traits of the multivariate phenotype. We describe the evolution of six traits of locomotion behavior and body size in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans for 50 generations of adaptation to a novel environment. We show that the direction of adaptive multivariate phenotypic evolution can be predicted from the ancestral selection differentials, particularly when the traits were measured in the new environment. Interestingly, the evolution of individual traits does not always occur in the direction of selection, nor are trait responses to selection always homogeneous among replicate populations. These observations are explained because the phenotypic dimension with most of the ancestral standing genetic variation only partially aligns with the phenotypic dimension under directional selection. These findings validate selection theory and suggest that the direction of multivariate adaptive phenotypic evolution is predictable for tens of generations.
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Affiliation(s)
- François Mallard
- Institut de Biologie de l’École Normale Supérieure, CNRS UMR 8197, Inserm U1024, PSL Research UniversityParisFrance
| | - Bruno Afonso
- Institut de Biologie de l’École Normale Supérieure, CNRS UMR 8197, Inserm U1024, PSL Research UniversityParisFrance
| | - Henrique Teotónio
- Institut de Biologie de l’École Normale Supérieure, CNRS UMR 8197, Inserm U1024, PSL Research UniversityParisFrance
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2
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Reid JM, Acker P. Properties of phenotypic plasticity in discrete threshold traits. Evolution 2021; 76:190-206. [PMID: 34874068 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2021] [Revised: 10/11/2021] [Accepted: 10/31/2021] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Forms of phenotypic plasticity in key traits, and forms of selection on and genetic variation in such plasticity, fundamentally underpin phenotypic, population dynamic, and evolutionary responses to environmental variation and directional change. Accordingly, numerous theoretical and empirical studies have examined properties and consequences of plasticity, primarily considering traits that are continuously distributed on observed phenotypic scales with linear reaction norms. However, many environmentally sensitive traits are expressed as discrete alternative phenotypes and are appropriately characterized as quantitative genetic threshold traits. Here, we highlight that forms of phenotypic plasticity, genetic variation, and inheritance in plasticity, and outcomes of selection on plasticity, could differ substantially between threshold traits and continuously distributed traits (as are typically considered). We thereby highlight theoretical developments that are required to rationalize and predict phenotypic and microevolutionary dynamics involving plastic threshold traits, and outline how intrinsic properties of such traits could provide relatively straightforward explanations for apparently idiosyncratic observed patterns of phenotypic variation. We summarize how key quantitative genetic parameters underlying threshold traits can be estimated, and thereby set the scene for embedding dynamic discrete traits into theoretical and empirical understanding of the role of plasticity in driving phenotypic, population, and evolutionary responses to environmental variation and change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jane M Reid
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Institutt for Biologi, NTNU, Trondheim, 7034, Norway.,School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 2TZ, United Kingdom
| | - Paul Acker
- Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Institutt for Biologi, NTNU, Trondheim, 7034, Norway
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3
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Plard F, Barthold Jones JA, Gaillard J, Coulson T, Tuljapurkar S. Demographic determinants of the phenotypic mother–offspring correlation. ECOL MONOGR 2021. [DOI: 10.1002/ecm.1479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Floriane Plard
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, UMR 5558, CNRS Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 Villeurbanne Cedex France
- Department of Aquaculture and Fish Biology Hólar University Háeyri 1 Sauðárkrókur 550 Iceland
| | | | - Jean‐Michel Gaillard
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, UMR 5558, CNRS Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 Villeurbanne Cedex France
| | - Tim Coulson
- Department of Zoology University of Oxford Oxford OX1 3PS UK
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4
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Löffler F, Wesp V, König-Ries B, Klan F. Dataset search in biodiversity research: Do metadata in data repositories reflect scholarly information needs? PLoS One 2021; 16:e0246099. [PMID: 33760822 PMCID: PMC7990268 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2019] [Accepted: 01/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The increasing amount of publicly available research data provides the opportunity to link and integrate data in order to create and prove novel hypotheses, to repeat experiments or to compare recent data to data collected at a different time or place. However, recent studies have shown that retrieving relevant data for data reuse is a time-consuming task in daily research practice. In this study, we explore what hampers dataset retrieval in biodiversity research, a field that produces a large amount of heterogeneous data. In particular, we focus on scholarly search interests and metadata, the primary source of data in a dataset retrieval system. We show that existing metadata currently poorly reflect information needs and therefore are the biggest obstacle in retrieving relevant data. Our findings indicate that for data seekers in the biodiversity domain environments, materials and chemicals, species, biological and chemical processes, locations, data parameters and data types are important information categories. These interests are well covered in metadata elements of domain-specific standards. However, instead of utilizing these standards, large data repositories tend to use metadata standards with domain-independent metadata fields that cover search interests only to some extent. A second problem are arbitrary keywords utilized in descriptive fields such as title, description or subject. Keywords support scholars in a full text search only if the provided terms syntactically match or their semantic relationship to terms used in a user query is known.
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Affiliation(s)
- Felicitas Löffler
- Heinz Nixdorf Chair for Distributed Information Systems, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Valentin Wesp
- Heinz Nixdorf Chair for Distributed Information Systems, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Birgitta König-Ries
- Heinz Nixdorf Chair for Distributed Information Systems, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
- Michael-Stifel-Center for Data-Driven and Simulation Science, Jena, Germany
- German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Germany
| | - Friederike Klan
- Michael-Stifel-Center for Data-Driven and Simulation Science, Jena, Germany
- Citizen Science Group, DLR-Institute of Data Science, German Aerospace Center, Jena, Germany
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5
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Dingemanse NJ, Araya-Ajoy YG, Westneat DF. Most published selection gradients are underestimated: Why this is and how to fix it. Evolution 2021; 75:806-818. [PMID: 33621355 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2020] [Revised: 01/29/2021] [Accepted: 02/12/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Ecologists and evolutionary biologists routinely estimate selection gradients. Most researchers seek to quantify selection on individual phenotypes, regardless of whether fixed or repeatedly expressed traits are studied. Selection gradients estimated to address such questions are attenuated unless analyses account for measurement error and biological sources of within-individual variation. Estimates of standardized selection gradients published in Evolution between 2010 and 2019 were primarily based on traits measured once (59% of 325 estimates). We show that those are attenuated: bias increases with decreasing repeatability but differently for linear versus nonlinear gradients. Others derived individual-mean trait values prior to analyses (41%), typically using few repeats per individual, which does not remove bias. We evaluated three solutions, all requiring repeated measures: (i) correcting gradients derived from classic models using estimates of trait correlations and repeatabilities, (ii) multivariate mixed-effects models, previously used for estimating linear gradients (seven estimates, 2%), which we expand to nonlinear analyses, and (iii) errors-in-variables models that account for within-individual variance, and are rarely used in selection studies. All approaches produced accurate estimates regardless of repeatability and type of gradient, however, errors-in-variables models produced more precise estimates and may thus be preferable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niels Jeroen Dingemanse
- Department of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen Department Biologie II, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Yimen G Araya-Ajoy
- Center for Biodiversity Dynamics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, 7012, Norway
| | - David F Westneat
- Department of Biology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky
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6
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Vatka E, Orell M, Rytkönen S, Merilä J. Effects of ambient temperatures on evolutionary potential of reproductive timing in boreal passerines. J Anim Ecol 2020; 90:367-375. [PMID: 33090475 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13370] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2019] [Accepted: 09/29/2020] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Many populations need to adapt to changing environmental conditions, such as warming climate. Changing conditions generate directional selection for traits critical for fitness. For evolutionary responses to occur, these traits need to be heritable. However, changes in environmental conditions can alter the amount of heritable variation a population expresses, making predictions about expected responses difficult. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of ambient temperatures on evolutionary potential and strength of natural selection on the timing of reproduction in two passerine birds breeding in boreal forests. Long-term data on individually marked Willow Tits Poecile montanus (1975-2018) and Great Tits Parus major (1969-2018) were analysed with random regression animal models to assess if spring temperatures affect the expressed amount of additive genetic variation (VA ) and heritability (h2 ) in the timing of breeding. We assessed if ambient temperatures of different seasons influenced the direction and strength of selection on breeding time. We also evaluated if the strength of selection covaried with evolutionary potential. Levels of VA or h2 expressed in laying date were unaffected by spring temperatures in both study species. Selection for earlier breeding was found in the Willow Tit, but not in the Great Tit. In the Willow Tit, selection for earlier breeding was more intense when the temperatures of following autumns and winters were low. Different measures of evolutionary potential did not covary strongly with the strength of selection in either species. We conclude that there is no or little evidence that climate warming would either constrain or promote evolutionary potential in timing of breeding through changes in amount of genetic variance expressed in boreal Willow and Great Tits. However, selection on the timing of breeding, a life-history event taking place in springtime, is regulated by temperatures of autumns and winters. Rapid warming of these periods have thus potential to reduce the rate of expected evolutionary response in reproductive timing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emma Vatka
- Ecological Genetics Research Unit, Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, Faculty Biological & Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markku Orell
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, Faculty of Science, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Seppo Rytkönen
- Ecology and Genetics Research Unit, Faculty of Science, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Juha Merilä
- Ecological Genetics Research Unit, Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, Faculty Biological & Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.,Division of Ecology & Biodiversity, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
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7
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Fischer K, Kreyling J, Beaulieu M, Beil I, Bog M, Bonte D, Holm S, Knoblauch S, Koch D, Muffler L, Mouginot P, Paulinich M, Scheepens JF, Schiemann R, Schmeddes J, Schnittler M, Uhl G, van der Maaten-Theunissen M, Weier JM, Wilmking M, Weigel R, Gienapp P. Species-specific effects of thermal stress on the expression of genetic variation across a diverse group of plant and animal taxa under experimental conditions. Heredity (Edinb) 2020; 126:23-37. [PMID: 32632284 DOI: 10.1038/s41437-020-0338-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2020] [Revised: 06/21/2020] [Accepted: 06/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Assessing the genetic adaptive potential of populations and species is essential for better understanding evolutionary processes. However, the expression of genetic variation may depend on environmental conditions, which may speed up or slow down evolutionary responses. Thus, the same selection pressure may lead to different responses. Against this background, we here investigate the effects of thermal stress on genetic variation, mainly under controlled laboratory conditions. We estimated additive genetic variance (VA), narrow-sense heritability (h2) and the coefficient of genetic variation (CVA) under both benign control and stressful thermal conditions. We included six species spanning a diverse range of plant and animal taxa, and a total of 25 morphological and life-history traits. Our results show that (1) thermal stress reduced fitness components, (2) the majority of traits showed significant genetic variation and that (3) thermal stress affected the expression of genetic variation (VA, h2 or CVA) in only one-third of the cases (25 of 75 analyses, mostly in one clonal species). Moreover, the effects were highly species-specific, with genetic variation increasing in 11 and decreasing in 14 cases under stress. Our results hence indicate that thermal stress does not generally affect the expression of genetic variation under laboratory conditions but, nevertheless, increases or decreases genetic variation in specific cases. Consequently, predicting the rate of genetic adaptation might not be generally complicated by environmental variation, but requires a careful case-by-case consideration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Klaus Fischer
- Zoological Institute and Museum, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
| | - Jürgen Kreyling
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Michaël Beaulieu
- Zoological Institute and Museum, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Ilka Beil
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Manuela Bog
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Dries Bonte
- Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Department of Biology, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium
| | - Stefanie Holm
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Sabine Knoblauch
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Dustin Koch
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Lena Muffler
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Pierick Mouginot
- Zoological Institute and Museum, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Maria Paulinich
- Zoological Institute and Museum, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - J F Scheepens
- Plant Evolutionary Ecology, Institute of Evolution and Ecology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Raijana Schiemann
- Zoological Institute and Museum, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Jonas Schmeddes
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Martin Schnittler
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Gabriele Uhl
- Zoological Institute and Museum, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Marieke van der Maaten-Theunissen
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.,Chair of Forest Growth and Woody Biomass Production, TU Dresden, Tharandt, Germany
| | - Julia M Weier
- Zoological Institute and Museum, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Martin Wilmking
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Robert Weigel
- Institute of Botany and Landscape Ecology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Phillip Gienapp
- Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Wageningen, The Netherlands.,Michael-Otto-Institut im NABU, Bergenhusen, Germany
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8
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Garant D. Natural and human-induced environmental changes and their effects on adaptive potential of wild animal populations. Evol Appl 2020; 13:1117-1127. [PMID: 32684950 PMCID: PMC7359845 DOI: 10.1111/eva.12928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2019] [Revised: 01/23/2020] [Accepted: 01/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
A major challenge of evolutionary ecology over the next decades is to understand and predict the consequences of the current rapid and important environmental changes on wild populations. Extinction risk of species is linked to populations' evolutionary potential and to their ability to express adaptive phenotypic plasticity. There is thus a vital need to quantify how selective pressures, quantitative genetics parameters, and phenotypic plasticity, for multiple traits in wild animal populations, may vary with changes in the environment. Here I review our previous research that integrated ecological and evolutionary theories with molecular ecology, quantitative genetics, and long-term monitoring of individually marked wild animals. Our results showed that assessing evolutionary and plastic changes over time and space, using multi-trait approaches, under a realistic range of environmental conditions are crucial steps toward improving our understanding of the evolution and adaptation of natural populations. Our current and future work focusses on assessing the limits of adaptive potential by determining the factors constraining the evolvability of plasticity, those generating covariation among genetic variance and selection, as well as indirect genetic effects, which can affect population's capacity to adjust to environmental changes. In doing so, we aim to provide an improved assessment of the spatial and temporal scale of evolutionary processes in wild animal populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dany Garant
- Département de biologieFaculté des SciencesUniversité de SherbrookeSherbrookeQCCanada
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9
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Prentice PM, Houslay TM, Martin JGA, Wilson AJ. Genetic variance for behavioural 'predictability' of stress response. J Evol Biol 2020; 33:642-652. [PMID: 32022966 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13601] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2019] [Revised: 01/07/2020] [Accepted: 01/30/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Genetic factors underpinning phenotypic variation are required if natural selection is to result in adaptive evolution. However, evolutionary and behavioural ecologists typically focus on variation among individuals in their average trait values and seek to characterize genetic contributions to this. As a result, less attention has been paid to if and how genes could contribute towards within-individual variance or trait 'predictability'. In fact, phenotypic 'predictability' can vary among individuals, and emerging evidence from livestock genetics suggests this can be due to genetic factors. Here, we test this empirically using repeated measures of a behavioural stress response trait in a pedigreed population of wild-type guppies. We ask (a) whether individuals differ in behavioural predictability and (b) whether this variation is heritable and so evolvable under selection. Using statistical methodology from the field of quantitative genetics, we find support for both hypotheses and also show evidence of a genetic correlation structure between the behavioural trait mean and individual predictability. We show that investigating sources of variability in trait predictability is statistically tractable and can yield useful biological interpretation. We conclude that, if widespread, genetic variance for 'predictability' will have major implications for the evolutionary causes and consequences of phenotypic variation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pamela M Prentice
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Cornwall, UK
| | | | | | - Alastair J Wilson
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Cornwall, UK
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10
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Ramakers JJC, Visser ME, Gienapp P. Quantifying individual variation in reaction norms: Mind the residual. J Evol Biol 2019; 33:352-366. [PMID: 31746497 PMCID: PMC7079083 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13571] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2019] [Revised: 11/11/2019] [Accepted: 11/14/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Phenotypic plasticity is a central topic in ecology and evolution. Individuals may differ in the degree of plasticity (individual-by-environment interaction (I × E)), which has implications for the capacity of populations to respond to selection. Random regression models (RRMs) are a popular tool to study I × E in behavioural or life-history traits, yet evidence for I × E is mixed, differing between species, populations, and even between studies on the same population. One important source of discrepancies between studies is the treatment of heterogeneity in residual variance (heteroscedasticity). To date, there seems to be no collective awareness among ecologists of its influence on the estimation of I × E or a consensus on how to best model it. We performed RRMs with differing residual variance structures on simulated data with varying degrees of heteroscedasticity and plasticity, sample size and environmental variability to test how RRMs would perform under each scenario. The residual structure in the RRMs affected the precision of estimates of simulated I × E as well as statistical power, with substantial lack of precision and high false-positive rates when sample size, environmental variability and plasticity were small. We show that model comparison using information criteria can be used to choose among residual structures and reinforce this point by analysis of real data of two study populations of great tits (Parus major). We provide guidelines that can be used by biologists studying I × E that, ultimately, should lead to a reduction in bias in the literature concerning the statistical evidence and the reported magnitude of variation in plasticity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jip J C Ramakers
- Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, the Netherlands.,Department of Biometris, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands
| | - Marcel E Visser
- Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, the Netherlands
| | - Phillip Gienapp
- Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, the Netherlands.,Michael-Otto-Institut im NABU, Bergenhusen, Germany
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11
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Ramakers JJC, Culina A, Visser ME, Gienapp P. Reply to: More evidence is needed to show that heritability and selection are not associated. Nat Ecol Evol 2019; 3:1408. [PMID: 31548644 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0991-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2019] [Accepted: 08/20/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jip J C Ramakers
- Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Wageningen, the Netherlands. .,Mathematical and Statistical Methods Group (Biometris), Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
| | - Antica Culina
- Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Wageningen, the Netherlands
| | - Marcel E Visser
- Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Wageningen, the Netherlands
| | - Phillip Gienapp
- Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Wageningen, the Netherlands.,Michael-Otto-Institut im NABU, Bergenhusen, Germany
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12
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Brommer JE. More evidence is needed to show that heritability and selection are not associated. Nat Ecol Evol 2019; 3:1407. [PMID: 31548645 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0989-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2018] [Accepted: 08/20/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jon E Brommer
- Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
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13
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Siepielski AM, Morrissey MB, Carlson SM, Francis CD, Kingsolver JG, Whitney KD, Kruuk LEB. No evidence that warmer temperatures are associated with selection for smaller body sizes. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 286:20191332. [PMID: 31337312 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.1332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Reductions in animal body size over recent decades are often interpreted as an adaptive evolutionary response to climate warming. However, for reductions in size to reflect adaptive evolution, directional selection on body size within populations must have become negative, or where already negative, to have become more so, as temperatures increased. To test this hypothesis, we performed traditional and phylogenetic meta-analyses of the association between annual estimates of directional selection on body size from wild populations and annual mean temperatures from 39 longitudinal studies. We found no evidence that warmer environments were associated with selection for smaller size. Instead, selection consistently favoured larger individuals, and was invariant to temperature. These patterns were similar in ectotherms and endotherms. An analysis using year rather than temperature revealed similar patterns, suggesting no evidence that selection has changed over time, and also indicating that the lack of association with annual temperature was not an artefact of choosing an erroneous time window for aggregating the temperature data. Although phenotypic trends in size will be driven by a combination of genetic and environmental factors, our results suggest little evidence for a necessary ingredient-negative directional selection-for declines in body size to be considered an adaptive evolutionary response to changing selection pressures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam M Siepielski
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, SCEN 601, 850 W. Dickson Street, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
| | | | - Stephanie M Carlson
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Clinton D Francis
- Department of Biological Sciences, Cal Poly State University, 1 Grand Avenue, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA
| | - Joel G Kingsolver
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Kenneth D Whitney
- Department of Biology, MSC03-2020, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Loeske E B Kruuk
- Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
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14
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Plastic responses to novel environments are biased towards phenotype dimensions with high additive genetic variation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:13452-13461. [PMID: 31217289 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1821066116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Environmentally induced phenotypes have been proposed to initiate and bias adaptive evolutionary change toward particular directions. The potential for this to happen depends in part on how well plastic responses are aligned with the additive genetic variance and covariance in traits. Using meta-analysis, we demonstrate that plastic responses to novel environments tend to occur along phenotype dimensions that harbor substantial amounts of additive genetic variation. This suggests that selection for or against environmentally induced phenotypes typically will be effective. One interpretation of the alignment between the direction of plasticity and the main axis of additive genetic variation is that developmental systems tend to respond to environmental novelty as they do to genetic mutation. This makes it challenging to distinguish if the direction of evolution is biased by plasticity or genetic "constraint." Our results therefore highlight a need for new theoretical and empirical approaches to address the role of plasticity in evolution.
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15
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16
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Ramakers JJC, Gienapp P, Visser ME. Phenological mismatch drives selection on elevation, but not on slope, of breeding time plasticity in a wild songbird. Evolution 2019; 73:175-187. [PMID: 30556587 PMCID: PMC6519030 DOI: 10.1111/evo.13660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2018] [Accepted: 11/16/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Phenotypic plasticity is an important mechanism for populations to respond to fluctuating environments, yet may be insufficient to adapt to a directionally changing environment. To study whether plasticity can evolve under current climate change, we quantified selection and genetic variation in both the elevation (RNE ) and slope (RNS ) of the breeding time reaction norm in a long-term (1973-2016) study population of great tits (Parus major). The optimal RNE (the caterpillar biomass peak date regressed against the temperature used as cue by great tits) changed over time, whereas the optimal RNS did not. Concordantly, we found strong directional selection on RNE , but not RNS , of egg-laying date in the second third of the study period; this selection subsequently waned, potentially due to increased between-year variability in optimal laying dates. We found individual and additive genetic variation in RNE but, contrary to previous studies on our population, not in RNS . The predicted and observed evolutionary change in RNE was, however, marginal, due to low heritability and the sex limitation of laying date. We conclude that adaptation to climate change can only occur via micro-evolution of RNE, but this will necessarily be slow and potentially hampered by increased variability in phenotypic optima.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jip J. C. Ramakers
- Department of Animal EcologyNetherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO‐KNAW)6700AB WageningenThe Netherlands
| | - Phillip Gienapp
- Department of Animal EcologyNetherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO‐KNAW)6700AB WageningenThe Netherlands
| | - Marcel E. Visser
- Department of Animal EcologyNetherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO‐KNAW)6700AB WageningenThe Netherlands
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Ramakers JJC, Culina A, Visser ME, Gienapp P. Environmental coupling of heritability and selection is rare and of minor evolutionary significance in wild populations. Nat Ecol Evol 2018; 2:1093-1103. [PMID: 29915341 PMCID: PMC6027994 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0577-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2017] [Accepted: 05/15/2018] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Predicting the rate of adaptation to environmental change in wild populations is important for understanding evolutionary change. However, predictions may be unreliable if the two key variables affecting the rate of evolutionary change-heritability and selection-are both affected by the same environmental variable. To determine how general such an environmentally induced coupling of heritability and selection is, and how this may influence the rate of adaptation, we made use of freely accessible, open data on pedigreed wild populations to answer this question at the broadest possible scale. Using 16 populations from 10 vertebrate species, which provided data on 50 traits (relating to body mass, morphology, physiology, behaviour and life history), we found evidence for an environmentally induced relationship between heritability and selection in only 6 cases, with weak evidence that this resulted in an increase or decrease in the expected selection response. We conclude that such a coupling of heritability and selection is unlikely to strongly affect evolutionary change, even though both heritability and selection are commonly postulated to be dependent on the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jip J C Ramakers
- Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
| | - Antica Culina
- Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Wageningen, the Netherlands
| | - Marcel E Visser
- Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Wageningen, the Netherlands
| | - Phillip Gienapp
- Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Wageningen, the Netherlands
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