Balancing selection and drift in a polymorphic salamander metapopulation.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how genetic variation is maintained in a metapopulation is a longstanding problem in evolutionary biology. Historical resurveys of polymorphisms have offered efficient insights about evolutionary mechanisms, but are often conducted on single, large populations, neglecting the more comprehensive view afforded by considering all populations in a metapopulation. Here, we resurveyed a metapopulation of spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) to understand the evolutionary drivers of frequency variation in an egg mass colour polymorphism. We found that this metapopulation was demographically, phenotypically and environmentally stable over the last three decades. However, further analysis revealed evidence for two modes of evolution in this metapopulation-genetic drift and

SUBMITTER: Giery ST 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8086932 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature