Evol Ecol Res 4: 1-25 (2002) Full PDF if your library subscribes.
The influence of life-history differences on the evolution of reaction norms
Gerdien de Jong* and Narayan Behera
Evolutionary Population Biology, University of Utrecht, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands
Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed.
e-mail: g.dejong@bio.uu.nlABSTRACT
We analyse a general model for the evolution of reaction norms in a heterogeneous environment. In the life-cycle, zygotes disperse. Development to the adult phenotype is in one environment and selection in another environment after adult migration. Lack of adult migration always leads to the optimum reaction norm. Adult migration after development and unpredictability of selection are necessary for the evolved reaction norm to deviate from the optimum reaction norm. Zygote dispersal and adult migration, therefore, play very different roles in the evolution of reaction norms. The life-cycle includes three stages in which density-dependent number regulation can take place: in the environment of development and in the environment of selection before and after selection. Differences in productivity between patches – a source–sink structure – cause major deviations in phenotypic evolution. Weak optimizing selection leads to a compromise reaction norm heavily influenced by productivity differences. Strong optimizing selection leads to the phenotypic optima for the character states and might lead to a polymorphic reaction norm; the condition is that density-dependent number regulation is present after selection. Zygote dispersal around the parental patch causes density-dependent number regulation in the environment of development to influence the evolved reaction, as it is now effectively after selection. The influence of density-dependent number regulation, therefore, depends strongly upon the exact life-cycle.
Keywords: density dependence, dispersal stages, ESS phenotypic plasticity, heterogeneous environment, polymorphism.
DOWNLOAD A FREE, FULL PDF COPY
IF you are connected using the IP of a subscribing institution (library, laboratory, etc.)
or through its VPN.
© 2002 G. de Jong. All EER articles are copyrighted by their authors. All authors endorse, permit and license Evolutionary Ecology Ltd. to grant its subscribing institutions/libraries the copying privileges specified below without additional consideration or payment to them or to Evolutionary Ecology, Ltd. These endorsements, in writing, are on file in the office of Evolutionary Ecology, Ltd. Consult authors for permission to use any portion of their work in derivative works, compilations or to distribute their work in any commercial manner.
Subscribing institutions/libraries may grant individuals the privilege of making a single copy of an EER article for non-commercial educational or non-commercial research purposes. Subscribing institutions/libraries may also use articles for non-commercial educational purposes by making any number of copies for course packs or course reserve collections. Subscribing institutions/libraries may also loan single copies of articles to non-commercial libraries for educational purposes.
All copies of abstracts and articles must preserve their copyright notice without modification.