Predicting evolutionary responses to selection on polyandry in the wild: additive genetic covariances with female extra-pair reproduction.

ABSTRACT: The evolutionary forces that underlie polyandry, including extra-pair reproduction (EPR) by socially monogamous females, remain unclear. Selection on EPR and resulting evolution have rarely been explicitly estimated or predicted in wild populations, and evolutionary predictions are vulnerable to bias due to environmental covariances and correlated selection through unmeasured traits. However, evolutionary responses to (correlated) selection on any trait can be directly predicted as additive genetic covariances (cov(A)) with appropriate components of relative fitness. I used comprehensive life-history, paternity and pedigree data from song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) to estimate cov(A) between a female's liability to produce extra-pair offspring and two specific fitness components: relativ

SUBMITTER: Reid JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3479734 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature