Heritable Micro-environmental Variance Covaries with Fitness in an Outbred Population of Drosophila serrata.

ABSTRACT: The genetic basis of stochastic variation within a defined environment, and the consequences of such micro-environmental variance for fitness are poorly understood . Using a multigenerational breeding design in Drosophila serrata, we demonstrated that the micro-environmental variance in a set of morphological wing traits in a randomly mating population had significant additive genetic variance in most single wing traits. Although heritability was generally low (<1%), coefficients of additive genetic variance were of a magnitude typical of other morphological traits, indicating that the micro-environmental variance is an evolvable trait. Multivariate analyses demonstrated that the micro-environmental variance in wings was genetically correlated among single traits, indicating that co

SUBMITTER: Sztepanacz JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5560815 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature