Metabolic rate, context-dependent selection, and the competition-colonization trade-off.

ABSTRACT: Metabolism is linked with the pace-of-life, co-varying with survival, growth, and reproduction. Metabolic rates should therefore be under strong selection and, if heritable, become less variable over time. Yet intraspecific variation in metabolic rates is ubiquitous, even after accounting for body mass and temperature. Theory predicts variable selection maintains trait variation, but field estimates of how selection on metabolism varies are rare. We use a model marine invertebrate to estimate selection on metabolic rates in the wild under different competitive environments. Fitness landscapes varied among environments separated by a few centimeters: interspecific competition selected for higher metabolism, and a faster pace-of-life, relative to competition-free environments. Populations ex

SUBMITTER: Pettersen AK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7403701 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature