Population genetics: Nonrandom dispersal and local adaptation

Nonrandom dispersal and local adaptation.

Nonrandom dispersal drives phenotypic divergence within a bird population

Gene flow through dispersal has traditionally been thought to function as a force opposing evolutionary differentiation. However, directional gene flow may actually reinforce divergence of populations in close proximity. This study documents the phenotypic differentiation over more than two decades in body size (tarsus length) at a very short spatial scale (1.1 km) within a population of pied f...

Population extinction and the genetics of adaptation.

Theories of adaptation typically ignore the effect of environmental change on population size. But some environmental challenges--challenges to which populations must adapt--may depress absolute fitness below 1, causing populations to decline. Under this scenario, adaptation is a race; beneficial alleles that adapt a population to the new environment must sweep to high frequency before the popu...

Nonrandom larval dispersal can steepen marine clines.

Sharp and stable clinal variation is enigmatic when found in species with high gene flow. Classical population genetic models treat gene flow as a random homogenizing force countering local adaptation across habitat discontinuities. Under this view, dispersal over large spatial scales will lower the effectiveness of adaptation by natural selection at finer spatial scales. Thus, random gene flow...

Rhodopsin population genetics and local adaptation: variable dim-light vision in sand gobies is illuminated.

The visual pigments of fish are thought to be adapted to the variable spectral qualities of aquatic light environments. Most research on the role of natural selection on the evolution of rhodopsins and dim-light vision in fish has focused on variation among species and higher taxa. In this issue, Larmuseau et al. reveal substantial intraspecific sequence variation in RH1 (the rhodopsin gene) in...