The opportunity for sexual selection and the evolution of non-responsiveness to pesticides, sterility inducers and contraceptives.

ABSTRACT: We illustrate a method for delaying and possibly eliminating the evolution of non-responsiveness to the treatments now used to control pest populations. Using simulations and estimates of the variance in relative fitness, i.e., the opportunity for selection, in a rat-like mammal, we show that the selection responsible for the evolution of non-responsiveness to pesticides and sterility-inducers, is similar in its action to sexual selection, and for this reason can be orders of magnitude stronger than that which exists for untreated populations. In contrast, we show that when contraceptives are used to reduce the fertility of a pest species, with non-responders embedded within such populations, the opportunity for selection favoring non-responsiveness is reduced to that which is expected by

SUBMITTER: Shuster SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6275691 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature