Conflicting selection pressures and life history trade-offs

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Abstract
We review studies of natural selection in wild populations in which selection has acted in opposite directions at different stages of the life history. For example, the phenotype with highest probability of survival may have the lowest reproductive success. We discuss two important implications of these findings. First, measurements of opposing selection confirm that evolution of traits is governed by a balance of conflicting fitness advantages. Second, studies of opposing selection are informative about mechanisms underlying life history trade-offs. We outline difficulties in measuring opposing selection, particularly the problem that patterns of selection may be masked by the positive effects of nutrition on size of metric traits and fitness components. We discuss some solutions to these problems, and present a statistical technique to help disentangle direct selection from nutritional effects. Finally, we show how fluctuations in selection pressures lead to norms of reaction for life history traits in the absence of developmental plasticity.