Fluctuating Population Dynamics Promotes the Evolution of Phenotypic Plasticity
Download: fishy.tar.gz
Date: 2009-07-01
Author: Mario Pineda-Krch, Richard Svanbäck, Michael Doebeli
Depends: gcc, gsl
Abstract: Theoretical and empirical studies are showing evidence in support of evolutionary branching and sympatric speciation due to frequency‐dependent competition. However, phenotypic diversification due to underlying genetic diversification is only one possible evolutionary response to disruptive selection. Another potentially general response is phenotypic diversification in the form of phenotypic plasticity. It has been suggested that genetic variation is favored in stable environments, whereas phenotypic plasticity is favored in unstable and fluctuating environments. We investigate the “competition” between the processes of evolutionary branching and the evolution of phenotypic plasticity in a predator‐prey model that allows both processes to occur. In this model, environmental fluctuations can be caused by complicated population dynamics. We found that the evolution of phenotypic plasticity was generally more likely than evolutionary branching when the ecological dynamics exhibited pronounced predator‐prey cycles, whereas the opposite was true when the ecological dynamics was more stable. At intermediate levels of density cycling, trimorphisms with two specialist branches and a phenotypically plastic generalist branch sometimes occurred. Our theoretical results suggest that ecological dynamics and evolutionary dynamics can often be tightly linked and that an explicit consideration of population dynamics may be essential to explain the evolutionary dynamics of diversification in natural populations.
References:
- Svanbäck, R., M. Pineda-Krch, and M. Doebeli. 2009. Fluctuating Population Dynamics Promotes the Evolution of Phenotypic Plasticity. The American Naturalist 174:176–189. doi:10.1086/600112
- Pineda-Krch, M., R. Svanbäck, and M. Doebeli. 2007. Fluctuating Population Dynamics Promotes the Evolution of Phenotypic Plasticity. Poster at the Symposium on the Genetics of Speciation, 21 July 2006, University of British Columbia. [Nature Precedings]
Hotspot conversion paradox code
Download: hotspot.tar.gz
Date: 2002-12-17
Author: Mario Pineda-Krch, Rosemary Redfield
Depends: MatLab 5.x
Abstract: The contradiction between the long-term persistence of the chromosomal hotspots that initiate meiotic recombination and the self-destructive mechanism by which they act strongly suggests that our understanding of recombination is incomplete. To investigate the requirements for hotspot persistence, Rosemary Redfield and I developed a computer simulation model, hotspot, of their activity and its evolutionary consequences.
References:
- Pineda-Krch M. and R. Redfield. 2005. Persistence and loss of meiotic recombination hotspots. Genetics 169:2319-2333. doi:10.1534/genetics.104.034363
- SOWD presentation in 2003 at the University of British Columbia: The joys and perils of recombination – the hotspot conversion paradox and the evolution of recombination. [PDF]
- Bioinformatics/Algorithmics Reading Group seminar in 2002 at the Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia: The hotspot conversion paradox. [PDF]
Adaptive branching on an environmental gradient. Short axis is the trait space of a quantitative trait, long axis is time, and the height of the peaks is the population size. The model was inspired by Doebeli and Dieckmann’s model published in Nature (2003,421:259-264). Model was coded in C++ and required 48hrs worth of simulations on the IAM cluster at the Institute for Applied Mathematics at UBC. The plot was made using MatLab.
The fine print…
Our Limited Time Guarantee: All programs and utilities are hereby guaranteed to be free from defects in: workmanship and programming for a period of one (1) minute after initial release. After that, you must refer below to the fully limited lifetime warranty. This guarantee does not cover damage due to accident, misuse, abuse, negligence, or incompetence. We are not responsible for any incidental or consequential damage which might occur as a result of the explicit or implicit use of these programs, including and not to exclude the possible complete destruction of all software on said machine, including said machine itself, along with the building containing said machine, and various parts of the surrounding country side. This guarantee is valid only in the United States, except for southern California, and only between the hours of 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM whenever we feel like it. Void where prohibited.
Our Fully Limited Lifetime warranty: In the event one of our utilities does not function properly due to faulty workmanship or programming logic, we will: 1. For a period of one month after initial release, we will listen to your complaints and smile politely, occasionally nodding the head as if in agreement. 2. For a period of one year after initial release, we will supply, at no charge to the user, sympathy and commiseration over any component of a program found to be inadequate. This warranty gives you specific rights, and you may have other rights which vary from state to state. i.e. the state (of mind) you are in may affect the intensity of our sympathy.
