Cast adrift on an island: introduced populations experience an altered balance between selection and drift.

ABSTRACT: A long-standing question in evolutionary biology is what becomes of adaptive traits when a species expands its range into novel environments. Here, we report the results of a study on an adaptive colour pattern polymorphism (stripes) of the coqui frog, Eleutherodactylus coqui, following its introduction to Hawaii from Puerto Rico. We compared population differentiation (Φ ST and F ST ) for the stripes locus--which underlies this colour pattern polymorphism--with neutral microsatellite loci to test for a signature of selection among native and introduced populations. Among native populations, Φ ST and F ST for stripes were lower than expected under the neutral model, suggesting uniform balancing selection. Alternatively, among introduced populations, Φ ST and F ST for stripes did not differ

SUBMITTER: O'Neill EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3440974 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature