Quantitative Genetic Analysis of Natural Selection
Summary
Quantitative genetic analysis of natural selection examines how genetic variation underpins evolutionary change in complex traits. By partitioning phenotypic variance into genetic and environmental components, researchers can estimate parameters such as additive genetic variance, heritability and evolvability. These parameters, together with measures of selection gradients and differentials, allow prediction of evolutionary responses under different ecological scenarios. Modern approaches extend classical breeding‐value estimation through mixed-model frameworks––often termed “animal models”––that leverage pedigree or genomic relatedness to disentangle genetic from non-genetic effects. Emphasis is placed on how environmental heterogeneity modulates both the strength of selection and the expression of genetic variance, thereby influencing the pace and direction of microevolution in wild populations. Advances in this field illuminate the causes of apparent evolutionary stasis, the role of phenotypic plasticity in buffering fitness change, and the capacity of populations to adapt under global change, with implications for conservation and resource management.
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Quantitative Genetic Analysis of Natural Selection publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in quantitative genetic analysis of natural selection across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Additive genetic variance: The component of phenotypic variance attributable to the sum of effects of individual alleles, essential for predicting response to selection.
Heritability: The proportion of phenotypic variance in a trait that is due to additive genetic variance, indicating the potential for evolutionary change.
Evolvability: A mean-standardised measure of additive genetic variance, reflecting the capacity of a trait to respond to directional selection.
Directional selection gradient: The slope of the relationship between relative fitness and trait value, quantifying the strength and direction of selection.
Phenotypic plasticity: The ability of a genotype to produce different phenotypes under varying environmental conditions, which can mask or facilitate genetic responses.
References
- Heat over heritability: Increasing body size in response to global warming is not stabilized by genetic effects in Bechstein's bats. Global Change Biology (2023).
- The Missing Response to Selection in the Wild. Trends in Ecology & Evolution (2018).
- On the use of the coefficient of variation to quantify and compare trait variation. Evolution Letters (2020).
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