Abstract
The evolutionary potential of a species is a function of the amount of its genetic variation. According to Fisher’s fundamental theorem of natural selection the rate of increase in fitness of a species at any time is equal to its genetic variance in fitness at that time. The notion that parthenogenesis leads to decreased variability has been stated already by Petrunkévitch (1905). Later authors have claimed that parthenogenesis is “a blind alley of evolution” (cf. e.g. Darlington 1932? White 1945; Fisher 1958). Parthenogenetic populations should become genetically uniform. If they are also polyploid, new (mostly recessive) mutations have increased difficulties in expressing themselves. Furthermore, parthenogenetic populations incorporate new, beneficial mutations at a slower rate than comparable bisexual populations (Muller 1932? Crow and Kimura 1965).
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Saura, A., Lokki, J., Suomalainen, E. (1977). Selection and Genetic Differentiation in Parthenogenetic Populations. In: Christiansen, F.B., Fenchel, T.M. (eds) Measuring Selection in Natural Populations. Lecture Notes in Biomathematics, vol 19. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-93071-3_23
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-93071-3_23
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