Multivariate selection and intersexual genetic constraints in a wild bird population

The Intersexual Genetic Correlation for Lifetime Fitness in the Wild and Its Implications for Sexual Selection

BACKGROUND The genetic benefits of mate choice are limited by the degree to which male and female fitness are genetically correlated. If the intersexual correlation for fitness is small or negative, choosing a highly fit mate does not necessarily result in high fitness offspring. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDING Using an animal-model approach on data from a pedigreed population of over 7,000 col...

Speeding Up Microevolution: The Effects of Increasing Temperature on Selection and Genetic Variance in a Wild Bird Population

The amount of genetic variance underlying a phenotypic trait and the strength of selection acting on that trait are two key parameters that determine any evolutionary response to selection. Despite substantial evidence that, in natural populations, both parameters may vary across environmental conditions, very little is known about the extent to which they may covary in response to environmenta...

A Multivariate Analysis of Genetic Constraints to Life History Evolution in a Wild Population of Red Deer

Evolutionary theory predicts that genetic constraints should be widespread, but empirical support for their existence is surprisingly rare. Commonly applied univariate and bivariate approaches to detecting genetic constraints can underestimate their prevalence, with important aspects potentially tractable only within a multivariate framework. However, multivariate genetic analyses of data from ...

Bergmann's rule and climate change revisited: disentangling environmental and genetic responses in a wild bird population.

Ecological responses to on-going climate change are numerous, diverse, and taxonomically widespread. However, with one exception, the relative roles of phenotypic plasticity and microevolution as mechanisms in explaining these responses are largely unknown. Several recent studies have uncovered evidence for temporal declines in mean body sizes of birds and mammals, and these responses have been...

Personality and basal metabolic rate in a wild bird population