Directional selection and the evolution of breeding date in birds, revisited: Hard selection and the evolution of plasticity
Abstract The mismatch between when individuals breed and when we think they should breed has been a long‐standing problem in evolutionary ecology. Price et al. is a classic theory paper in this field and is mainly cited for its most obvious result: if individuals with high nutritional condition bree...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2022-04-01
|
| Series: | Evolution Letters |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/evl3.279 |
| _version_ | 1797722159827648512 |
|---|---|
| author | Jarrod D. Hadfield Thomas E. Reed |
| author_facet | Jarrod D. Hadfield Thomas E. Reed |
| author_sort | Jarrod D. Hadfield |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The mismatch between when individuals breed and when we think they should breed has been a long‐standing problem in evolutionary ecology. Price et al. is a classic theory paper in this field and is mainly cited for its most obvious result: if individuals with high nutritional condition breed early, then the advantage of breeding early may be overestimated when information on nutritional condition is absent. Price at al.'s less obvious result is that individuals, on average, are expected to breed later than the optimum. Here, we provide an explanation of their non‐intuitive result in terms of hard selection, and go on to show that neither of their results are expected to hold if the relationship between breeding date and nutrition is allowed to evolve. By introducing the assumption that the advantage of breeding early is greater for individuals in high nutritional condition, we show that their most cited result can be salvaged. However, individuals, on average, are expected to breed earlier than the optimum, not later. More generally, we also show that the hard selection mechanisms that underpin these results have major implications for the evolution of plasticity: when environmental heterogeneity becomes too great, plasticity is selected against, prohibiting the evolution of generalists. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T09:44:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c8f15f319ebf4abcbd07061bae583c75 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2056-3744 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T09:44:31Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Evolution Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-c8f15f319ebf4abcbd07061bae583c752023-09-02T13:02:04ZengOxford University PressEvolution Letters2056-37442022-04-016217818810.1002/evl3.279Directional selection and the evolution of breeding date in birds, revisited: Hard selection and the evolution of plasticityJarrod D. Hadfield0Thomas E. Reed1Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences University of Edinburgh Edinburgh EH9 3JT UKSchool of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences University College Cork, Distillery Fields North Mall Cork T23 N73K IrelandAbstract The mismatch between when individuals breed and when we think they should breed has been a long‐standing problem in evolutionary ecology. Price et al. is a classic theory paper in this field and is mainly cited for its most obvious result: if individuals with high nutritional condition breed early, then the advantage of breeding early may be overestimated when information on nutritional condition is absent. Price at al.'s less obvious result is that individuals, on average, are expected to breed later than the optimum. Here, we provide an explanation of their non‐intuitive result in terms of hard selection, and go on to show that neither of their results are expected to hold if the relationship between breeding date and nutrition is allowed to evolve. By introducing the assumption that the advantage of breeding early is greater for individuals in high nutritional condition, we show that their most cited result can be salvaged. However, individuals, on average, are expected to breed earlier than the optimum, not later. More generally, we also show that the hard selection mechanisms that underpin these results have major implications for the evolution of plasticity: when environmental heterogeneity becomes too great, plasticity is selected against, prohibiting the evolution of generalists.https://doi.org/10.1002/evl3.279 |
| spellingShingle | Jarrod D. Hadfield Thomas E. Reed Directional selection and the evolution of breeding date in birds, revisited: Hard selection and the evolution of plasticity Evolution Letters |
| title | Directional selection and the evolution of breeding date in birds, revisited: Hard selection and the evolution of plasticity |
| title_full | Directional selection and the evolution of breeding date in birds, revisited: Hard selection and the evolution of plasticity |
| title_fullStr | Directional selection and the evolution of breeding date in birds, revisited: Hard selection and the evolution of plasticity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Directional selection and the evolution of breeding date in birds, revisited: Hard selection and the evolution of plasticity |
| title_short | Directional selection and the evolution of breeding date in birds, revisited: Hard selection and the evolution of plasticity |
| title_sort | directional selection and the evolution of breeding date in birds revisited hard selection and the evolution of plasticity |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/evl3.279 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jarroddhadfield directionalselectionandtheevolutionofbreedingdateinbirdsrevisitedhardselectionandtheevolutionofplasticity AT thomasereed directionalselectionandtheevolutionofbreedingdateinbirdsrevisitedhardselectionandtheevolutionofplasticity |