The role of selection and evolution in changing parturition date in a red deer population.

ABSTRACT: Changing environmental conditions cause changes in the distributions of phenotypic traits in natural populations. However, determining the mechanisms responsible for these changes-and, in particular, the relative contributions of phenotypic plasticity versus evolutionary responses-is difficult. To our knowledge, no study has yet reported evidence that evolutionary change underlies the most widely reported phenotypic response to climate change: the advancement of breeding times. In a wild population of red deer, average parturition date has advanced by nearly 2 weeks in 4 decades. Here, we quantify the contribution of plastic, demographic, and genetic components to this change. In particular, we quantify the role of direct phenotypic plasticity in response to increasing temperatures and the

SUBMITTER: Bonnet T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6830748 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature