Range expansion promotes cooperation in an experimental microbial metapopulation.

ABSTRACT: Natural populations throughout the tree of life undergo range expansions in response to changes in the environment. Recent theoretical work suggests that range expansions can have a strong effect on evolution, even leading to the fixation of deleterious alleles that would normally be outcompeted in the absence of migration. However, little is known about how range expansions might influence alleles under frequency- or density-dependent selection. Moreover, there is very little experimental evidence to complement existing theory, since expanding populations are difficult to study in the natural environment. In this study, we have used a yeast experimental system to explore the effect of range expansions on the maintenance of cooperative behaviors, which commonly display frequency- and densi

SUBMITTER: Datta MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3645579 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature