QUANTITATIVE GENETICS AND THE EVOLUTION OF REACTION NORMS
- 1 April 1992
- Vol. 46 (2) , 390-411
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.1992.tb02047.x
Abstract
We extend methods of quantitative genetics to studies of the evolution of reaction norms defined over continuous environments. Our models consider both spatial variation (hard and soft selection) and temporal variation (within a generation and between generations). These different forms of environmental variation can produce different evolutionary trajectories even when they favor the same optimal reaction norm. When genetic constraints limit the types of evolutionary changes available to a reaction norm, different forms of environmental variation can also produce different evolutionary equilibria. The methods and models presented here provide a framework in which empiricists may determine whether a reaction norm is optimal and, if it is not, to evaluate hypotheses for why it is not.Keywords
Funding Information
- National Science Foundation (BSR‐8657521, BSR‐8604743)
This publication has 79 references indexed in Scilit:
- Evolution of thermal sensitivity of ectotherm performanceTrends in Ecology & Evolution, 1989
- Time Budgets, Thermoregulation, and Maximal Locomotor Performance: Are Reptiles Olympians or Boy Scouts?American Zoologist, 1988
- Population and Genotype Niche Width in Clonal Phlox paniculataAmerican Journal of Botany, 1985
- Phenotypic Plasticity in Life-History Traits: Demographic Effects and Evolutionary ConsequencesAmerican Zoologist, 1983
- Non-linear genotype × environment interactions arising from response thresholdsHeredity, 1979
- The Nature of Limits to Natural SelectionAnnals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 1976
- Hard and Soft Selection in a Subdivided PopulationThe American Naturalist, 1975
- Population Effects of Natural SelectionThe American Naturalist, 1961
- The Genotype Conception of HeredityThe American Naturalist, 1911
- Elemente der exakten ErblichkeitslehreMolecular Genetics and Genomics, 1909