ASSORTATIVE MATING COUNTERACTS THE EVOLUTION OF DISPERSAL POLYMORPHISMS

Polymorphic dispersal strategies are found in many plant and animal species. An important question is how the genetic variation underlying such polymorphisms is maintained. Numerous mechanisms have been discussed, including kin competition or frequency-dependent selection. In the context of sympatri...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Evolution 2011-09, Vol.65 (9), p.2461-2469
Main Authors: Fronhofer, Emanuel A., Kubisch, Alexander, Hovestadt, Thomas, Poethke, Hans-Joachim
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alleles
Animal populations
Animal reproduction
Animals
Assortative mating
Biological Evolution
Computer Simulation
Costs
Diploidy
Dispersal
dominance
Ecological competition
Emigration
Evolution
Female
Insecta - genetics
Insecta - physiology
Male
Mating behavior
metapopulation
Metapopulation ecology
Models, Genetic
Mortality
Phenotype
Phenotypes
Polymorphism
Polymorphism, Genetic
Population Dynamics
Selection, Genetic
Sexual Behavior, Animal
trade-off
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Summary:Polymorphic dispersal strategies are found in many plant and animal species. An important question is how the genetic variation underlying such polymorphisms is maintained. Numerous mechanisms have been discussed, including kin competition or frequency-dependent selection. In the context of sympatric speciation events, genetic and phenotypic variation is often assumed to be preserved by assortative mating. Thus, recently, this has been advocated as a possible mechanism leading to the evolution of dispersal polymorphisms. Here, we examine the role of assortative mating for the evolution of trade-off-driven dispersal polymorphisms by modeling univoltine insect species in a metapopulation. We show that assortative mating does not favor the evolution of polymorphisms. On the contrary, assortative mating favors the evolution of an intermediate dispersal type and a uni-modal distribution of traits within populations. As an alternative, mechanism dominance may explain the occurrence of two discrete morphs.
ISSN:0014-3820
1558-5646
DOI:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01312.x