Abstract
The maintenance of genetic variation in traits of adaptive significance has been a major dilemma of evolutionary biology. Considering the pattern of increased genetic variation associated with environmental clines and heterogeneous environments, selection in heterogeneous environments has been proposed to facilitate the maintenance of genetic variation. Some models examining whether genetic variation can be maintained, in heterogeneous environments are reviewed. Genetic mechanisms that constrain evolution in quantitative genetic traits indicate that genetic variation can be maintained but when is not clear. Furthermore, no comprehensive models have been developed, likely due to the genetic and environmental complexity of this issue. Therefore, I have suggested two empirical approaches to provide insight for future theoretical and empirical research. Traditional path analysis has been a very powerful approach for understanding phenotypic selection. However, it requires substantial information on the biology of the study system to construct a causal model and alternatives. Exploratory path analysis is a data driven approach that uses the statistical relationships in the data to construct a set of models. For example, it can be used for understanding phenotypic selection in different environments, where there is no prior information to develop path models in the different environments. Data from Brassica rapa grown in different nutrients indicated that selection changed in the different environments. Experimental evolutionary studies will provide direct tests as to when genetic variation is maintained.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Antonovics, J. & A.D. Bradshaw, 1970. Evolution in closely adjacent plant populations VIII. Clinal patterns at a mine boundary. Heredity 25: 349–362.
Arnold, S.J., 1992. Constraints on phenotypic evolution. Am. Nat. 140: S85–S107.
Bell, G., 1991. The ecology and genetics of fitness in Chlamydomonas IV. The properties of mixtures of genotypes of the same species. Evolution 45: 1036–1046.
Bell, G., 1992. The ecology and genetics of fitness in Chlamydomonas V. The relationship between genetic correlation and environmental variance. Evolution 46: 561–566
Bell, G., 1997a. Selection: the Mechanism of Evolution. Chapman and Hall, New York.
Bell, G.A.C., 1997b. Experimental evolution in Chlamydomonas I. Short-term selection in uniform and diverse environments. Heredity 78: 490–497.
Bell, G. & X. Reboud, 1997. Experimental evolution in Chlamydomonas II. Genetic variation in strongly contrasted environments. Heredity 78: 498–506.
Bennett, A.F., R.E. Lenski & J.E. Mittler, 1992. Evolutionary adaptation to temperature I. Fitness responses of Escherichia coli to changes in its thermal environment. Evolution 46: 16–30.
Borash, D.J., A.G. Gibbs, A. Joshi & L.D. Mueller, 1998. A genetic polymorphism maintained by natural selection in a temporally varying environment. Am. Nat. 151: 148–156.
Bossart, J.L. & J.M. Scriber, 1995. Maintenance of ecologically significant genetic variation in the tiger swallowtail butterfly through differential selection and gene flow. Evolution 49: 1163–1171.
Bulmer, M.G., 1985. The Mathematical Theory of Quantitative Genetics. Oxford Univ. Press., New York.
Bulmer, M.G., 1989. Maintenance of genetic variability by mutation-selection balance: a child’s guide through the jungle. Genome 31: 761–767.
Campbell, D.R., 1996. Evolution of floral traits in a hermaphroditic plant: field measurements of heritabilities and genetic correlations. Evolution 54: 1442–1453.
Chang, S.-M. & R.G. Shaw, 2003. The contribution of spontaneous mutation to variation in environmental response in Arabidopsis thaliana: response to nutrients. Evolution 57: 984–994.
Charlesworth, B. & K.A. Hughes, 1999. The maintenance of genetic variation in life-history traits, pp. 369–391 in Evolutionary Genetics: From Molecules to Morphology, Vol. 1., edited by R.S. Singh & C.B. Krimbas. Cambridge University Press.
Cheetham, A.H., J.B.C. Jackson & L.A.C. Hayek, 1995. Quantitative genetics of bryozoan phenotypic evolution 3. Phenotypic plasticity and the maintenance of genetic variation. Evolution 49: 290–296.
Cheplick, G.P., 2003. Evolutionary significance of genotypic variation in developmental reaction norms for a perennial grass under competitive stress. Evol. Ecol. 17: 175–196.
Christiansen, F.B., 1974. Sufficient conditions for protected polymorphism in a subdivided population. Amer. Nat. 108: 157–166.
Conner, J.K., 1996. Understanding natural selection: an approach integrating selection gradients, multiplicative fitness components, and path analysis. Ethol. Ecol. Evol. 8: 387–397.
Conner, J.K. & S. Rush, 1997. Measurements of selection on floral traits in black mustard, Brassica nigra. J. Evol. Biol. 10: 327–335.
Conner, J.K., S. Rush & P. Jennetten, 1996. Measurements of natural selection on floral traits in wild radish (Raphanus raphanistum) I. Selection through lifetime female fitness. Evolution 50: 1127–1136.
Cooper, V.S., A.F. Bennett & R.E. Lenski, 2001. Evolution of thermal dependence of growth rate of Escherichia coli populations during 20,000 generations in a constant environment. Evolution 55: 889–896.
Curtsinger, J.W., P.M. Service & T. Prout, 1994. Antagonistic pleiotropy, reversal of dominance, and genetic polymorphism. Am. Nat. 144: 210–228.
Donohue, K. & J. Schmitt, 1999. The genetic architecture of plasticity to density in Impatiens capensis. Evolution 53: 1377–1386.
Dudley, S.A., 1996. The response to differing selection on plant physiological traits: evidence for local adaptation. Evolution 50: 103–110.
Elena, S.F. & R.E. Lenski, 1997. Long-term experimental evolution in Escherichia coli VII. Mechanisms maintaining genetic variability within populations. Evolution 51: 1058–1067.
Endler, J.A., 1986. Natural Selection in the Wild. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Evans, A.S., 1989. Phenotypic Plasticity of Physiological and Life History Characteristics: Evolutionary Implications in Rapid-cycling Brassica campestris L. Ph.D. Thesis. The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
Evans, A.S., 1991. Leaf physiological aspects of nitrogen-use efficiency in Brassica campestris L.: quantitative genetic variation across nutrient treatments. Theor. Appl. Genet. 81: 64–70.
Falconer, D.S., 1952. The problem of environment and selection. Am. Nat. 86: 293–298.
Falconer, D.S. & T.F.C. Mackay, 1996. Introduction to Quantitative Genetics, 4th edn., Longman Group, Ltd., Essex, England.
Felsenstein, J., 1976. The theoretical population genetics of variable selection and migration. Annu. Revi. Genet. 10: 253–280.
Fisher, R.A., 1999. The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection. Complete Variorum edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Galloway, L.F., 1995. Response to natural environmental heterogeneity: maternal effects and selection on life-history characters and plasticities in Mimulus guttatus. Evolution 49: 1095–1107.
Gillespie, J.H. & M. Turelli, 1989. Genotype-environment interactions and the maintenance of polygenic variation. Genetics 121: 129–138.
Gimelfarb, A., 1990. How much genetic variation can be maintained by genotype-environment interactions? Genetics 124: 443–445.
Grime, J.P., 1994. The role of plasticity in exploiting environmental heterogeneity, in Exploitation of Environmental Heterogeneity by Plants, edited by M.M. Caldwell & R.W. Pearcy. Academic Press, San Diego.
Harris, D.J. & J.S. Jones, 1995. Genotype-specific habitat selection and thermal ecology in Nucella lapillus (L.) (the dogwhelk). Heredity 74: 311–314.
Hatcher, L., 1994. A Step-by-Step Approach to Using the SAS System for Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling. SAS Institute Inc. Pub. Cary, NC.
Hedrick, P.W., 1986. Genetic polymorphism in heterogeneous environments: a decade later. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 17: 535–566.
Houle, D., 1992. Comparing evolvability and variability of quantitative traits. Genetics 130: 195–204.
Houle, D., 1998. How should we explain variation in the genetic variance of traits? Genetica 102/103: 241–251.
Jia, F.-Y., M.D. Greenfield & R.D. Collins, 2000. Genetic variance of sexually selected traits in waxmoths: maintenance by genotype by environment interaction. Evolution 54: 953–967.
Kalisz, S. & G.M. Wardle, 1994. Life history variation in Campanula Americana (Campanulaceae): population differentiation. Am. J. Bot. 81: 521–527.
Karan, D., J.-P. Morin, P. Gibert, B. Moreteau, S.M. Scheiner & J.R. David, 2000. The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. IX. Genetic architecture, temperature, and sex differences in Drosophila melanogaster. Evolution 54: 1035–1040.
Kassen, R., 2002. The experimental evolution of specialists, generalists, and the maintenance of diversity. J. Evol. Biol. 15: 173–190.
Kassen, R. & G. Bell, 1998. Experimental evolution in Chlamydomonas. IV. Selection in environments that vary through time at different scales. Heredity 80: 732–741.
Kassen, R. & G. Bell, 2000. The ecology and genetics of fitness in Chlamydomonas X. The relationship between genetic correlation and genetic distance. Evolution 54: 425–432.
Kause, A., I. Saloniemi, J.-P. Morin, E. Haukioja, S. Hanhimäki & K. Ruohomäki, 2001. Seasonally varying diet quality and the quantitative genetics of development time and body size in birch feeding insects. Evolution 55: 1992–2001.
Kingsolver, J.G. & D.W. Schemske, 1991. Path analyses of selection. Trends Ecol. Evol. 6: 276–280.
Kingsolver, J.G., H.E. Hoekstra, J.M. Hoekstra, D. Berrigan, S.N. Vignieri, C.E. Hill, A. Hoang, P. Gilbert & P. Beerli, 2001. The strength of phenotypic selection in natural populations. Am. Nat. 157: 245–261.
Lande, R. & S.J. Arnold, 1983. The measurement of selection on correlated characters. Evolution 37: 1210–1226.
Leroi, A.M., A.K. Chippindale & M.R. Rose, 1994a. Long-term laboratory evolution of a genetic life-history trade-off in Drosophila melanogaster. 1. The role of genotype-by-environment interaction. Evolution 48: 1244–1257.
Leroi, A.M., W.R. Chen & M.R. Rose, 1994b. Long-term laboratory evolution of a genetic life-history trade-off in Drosophila melanogaster. 2. Stability of genetic correlations. Evolution 48: 1258–1268.
Levene, H., 1953. Genetic equilibrium when more than one ecological niche is available. Am. Nat. 87: 331–333.
Levins, R., 1968. Evolution in Changing Environments. Monographs in Population Biology. Vol. 2. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, NJ.
Li, B., J.-I. Suzuki & T. Hara, 1998. Latitudinal variation in plant size and relative growth rate in Arabidopsis thaliana. Oecologia 115: 293–301.
Luttikhuizen, P.C., J. Drent, W. van Delden & T. Piersma, 2003. Spatially structure genetic variation in a broadcast spawning bivalve: quantitative vs. molecular traits. J. Evol. Biol.16: 260–272.
Lynch, M., 1996. A quantitative-genetic perspective on conservation issues, pp. 471–501 in Conservation Genetics: Case Histories From Nature, edited by J.C. Avise & J.L. Hamrick. Chapman and Hall, New York.
Lynch, M. & B. Walsh, 1998. Genetics and Analysis of Quantitative Traits. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA.
Lynch, M., L. Latta, J. Hicks & M. Giorgianni, 1998. Mutation, selection, and the maintenance of life-history variation in a natural population. Evolution 52: 727–733.
Lynch, M., M. Pfrender, K. Spitze, N. Lehman, J. Hick, D. Allen, L. Latta, M. Ottene, F. Bogue & J. Colbourne, 1999. The quantitative and molecular genetic architecture of a subdivided species. Evolution 53: 100–110.
Mackay, T.F.C., 1981. Genetic variation in varying environments. Gen. Res. 37: 79–93.
Mackay, T.F.C., 2001. The genetic architecture of quantitative traits. Ann. Rev. Gen. 35: 303–339.
Maynard Smith, J. & R. Hoekstra, 1980. Polymorphism in a varied environment: how robust are the models? Gen. Res. 35: 45–57.
Mitchell, R.J., 1993. Path analysis: pollination, pp. 211–231 in Design and Analysis of Ecological Experiments, edited by S.M. Scheiner & J. Gurevitch. Chapman and Hall, New York.
Mitton, J.B., 1997. Selection in Natural Populations. Oxford University Press, New York.
Mopper, S., K. Landau & P. Van Zandt, 2000. Adaptive evolution and neutral variation in a wild leafminer meta-population, pp. 116–138 in Adaptive Genetic Variation in the Wild, edited by T.A. Mousseau, B. Sinervo & J. Endler. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Moran, N.A., 1991. Phenotype fixation and genotypic diversity in the complex life cycle of the aphid Pemphigus betae. Evolution 45: 957–970.
Mousseau, T.A. & D.A. Roff, 1987. Natural selection and the heritability of fitness components. Heredity 59: 181–197.
Mousseau, T.A., B. Sinervo & J. Endler, 2000. Adaptive Genetic Variation in the Wild. Oxford University Press, New York.
Pigliucci, M. & C.D. Schlichting, 1998. Reaction norms of Arabidopsis. V. Flowering time controls phenotypic architecture in response to nutrient stress. J. Evol. Biol. 11: 285–301
Prout, T., 1968. Sufficient conditions for multiple niche polymorphism. Am. Nat. 102: 493–496.
Prout, T. & O. Savolainen, 1996. Genotype-by-environment interaction is not sufficient to maintain variation: levene and the leafhopper. Am. Nat. 148: 930–936.
Rausher, M.D., 1992. The measurement of selection on quantitative traits: biases due to environmental covariance between traits and fitness. Evolution 46: 616–626.
Reed, D. H. & R. Frankham, 2001. How closely correlated are molecular and quantitative measures of genetic variation? A meta-analysis. Evolution 55: 1095–1103.
Richard, M., T. Bernhardt & G. Bell, 2000. Environmental heterogeneity and the spatial structure of fern species diversity in one hectare of old-growth forest. Ecography 23: 231–245.
Richards, A.D., 1986. Plant Breeding Systems. Allen and Unwin, London.
Roff, D.A., 1997. Evolutionary Quantitative Genetics. Chapman and Hall, New York.
Roff, D.A. & T.A. Mousseau, 1987. Quantitative genetics and fitness: lessons from Drosophila. Heredity 58: 103–118.
Rose, M.R., T.J. Nusbaum & A.K. Chippindale, 1996. Laboratory evolution: the experimental wonderland and the Cheshire cat syndrome, pp. 221–241 in Adaptation, edited by M.R. Rose & G.V. Lauder. Academic Press, Inc., San Diego, CA.
SAS, 2001. Statistical Analysis System, SAS Institute Inc., SAS/STAT software version 8.2 Cary, NC.
Sasaki, A. & G. de Jong, 1999. Density dependence and unpredictable selection in a heterogeneous environment: compromise and polymorphism in the ESS reaction norm. Evolution 53: 1329–1342.
Scheiner, S.M., 1993. Genetics and evolution of phenotypic plasticity. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 34: 35–68.
Scheiner, S.M. & H.S. Callahan, 1999. Measuring natural selection on phenotypic plasticity. Evolution 53: 1704–1713.
Scheiner, S.M., R.J. Mitchell & H.S. Callahan, 2000. Using path analysis to measure natural selection. J. Evol. Biol. 13: 423–433.
Scheiner, S.M. & L.Y. Yampolsky, 1998. The evolution of Daphnia pulex in a temporally varying environment. Genet. Res. 72: 25–37.
Schmidt, P.S. & D.M. Rand, 2001. Adaptive maintenance of genetic polymorphism in an intertidal barnacle: habitat-and life-stage-specific survivorship of Mpi genotypes. Evolution 55: 1336–1344.
Shaw, R.G., G.A.J. Platenkamp, F.H. Shaw & R.H. Podolsky, 1995. Quantitative genetics of response to competitors in Nemophila menziesii: a field experiment. Genetics 139: 397–406.
Shaw, R.G., D.L. Byers & E. Darmo, 2000. Spontaneous mutational effects on reproductive traits of Arabidopsis thaliana. Genetics 155: 369–378.
Shipley, B., 1997. Exploratory path analysis with applications in ecology and evolution. Am. Nat. 149: 1113–1138.
Shipley, B., 2000. Cause and Correlation In Biology, a User’s Guide To Path Analysis, Structural Equations and Causal Inference. Cambridge U. Press, Cambridge.
Sinervo, B., 2000. Adaptation, natural selection, and optimal life-history allocation in the face of genetically based tradeoffs, pp. 41–64 in Adaptive Genetic Variation in the Wild, edited by T.A. Mousseau, B. Sinervo & J. Endler. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Sokal, R.R. & F.J. Rohlf, 1995. Biometry, 3rd edn., W.H. Freeman and Co., New York.
Spirtes, P., C. Glymour & R. Scheines, 1993. Causation, prediction and search. Springer-Verlag, New York.
Stanton, M.L., C. Galen & J. Shore, 1997. Population structure along a steep environmental gradient: consequences of flowering time and habitat variation in the snow buttercup, Ranunculus adoneus. Evolution 51: 79–94.
Stratton, D.A., 1995. Spatial scale of variation in fitness of Erigeron annuus. Am. Nat. 146: 608–624.
Takano, T., S. Kusakabe & T. Mukai, 1987. The genetic structure of natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster. XX. Comparison of genotype-environment interaction in viability between a northern and a southern population. Genetics 117: 245–254.
Tauber, T.A. & M.J. Tauber, 1992. Phenotypic plasticity in Chrysoperla: genetic variation in the sensory mechanism and in correlated reproductive traits. Evolution 46: 1754–1773.
Vavrek, M.C, J.B. Mcgraw & H.S. Yang 1996. Within-population variation in demography of Taraxacum official maintenance of genetic diversity. Ecology 77: 2098–2107.
Van Kleunen, M. & M. Fischer, 2001. Adaptive evolution of plastic foraging responses in a clonal plant. Ecology 82: 3309–3319.
Vieira, C., E.G. Pasyukova, Z.-B. Zeng, J.B. Hackett, R.F. Lyman & T.F.C. Mackay, 2000. Genotype-environment interaction for quantitative trait loci affecting life span in Drosophila melanogaster. Genetics 154: 213–227.
Via, S., 1987. Genetic constraints on the evolution of phenotypic plasticity, pp 47–71 in Genetic Constraints on Adaptive Evolution, edited by V. Loeschcke. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Via, S., R. Gomulkiewicz, G. de Jong, S.M. Scheiner, C.D. Schlichting & P.H. van Tienderen, 1995. Adaptive phenotypic plasticity: consensus and controversy. Trends Ecol. Evol. 10: 212–217.
Via, S. & R. Lande, 1985. Genotype-environment interaction and the evolution of phenotypic plasticity. Evolution 39: 505–522.
Williams, P.H. & C.B. Hill, 1986. Rapid-cycling populations of Brassicas. Science 232: 1385–1389.
Windig, J.J., 1997. The calculation and significance testing of genetic correlations across environments. J. Evol. Bio. 10: 853–874.
Zhivotovsky, L.A., M.W. Feldman & A. Bergman, 1996a. Fitness patterns and phenotypic plasticity in a spatially heterogeneous environment. Gen. Res. 68: 241–248.
Zhivotovsky, L.A., M.W. Feldman & A. Bergman, 1996b. On the evolution of phenotypic plasticity in a spatially heterogeneous environment. Evolution 50: 547–558.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2005 Springer
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Byers, D.L. (2005). Evolution in heterogeneous environments and the potential of maintenance of genetic variation in traits of adaptive significance. In: Mauricio, R. (eds) Genetics of Adaptation. Georgia Genetics Review III, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3836-4_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3836-4_10
Received:
Accepted:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-3476-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-3836-5
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)