Evolution of Corn Oil Sensitivity in the Flour Beetle

We explore the persistence of corn oil sensitivity in a population of the flour beetle Tribolium castaneum using evolutionary game methods that model population dynamics and changes in the mean strategy of a population over time. The strategy in an evolutionary game is a trait that affects the fitness of the organisms. Corn oil sensitivity represents such a strategy in the flour beetle. We adapt an existing model of the ecological dynamics of T. castaneum into an evolutionary game framework to explore the persistence of corn oil sensitivity in the population. The equilibrium allele frequencies resulting from the evolutionary game are evolutionarily stable strategies and compare favorably with those obtained from the experimental data.