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Evolutionary rates for multivariate traits: the role of selection and genetic variation

William Pitchers, Jason B. Wolf, Tom Tregenza, John Hunt, Ian Dworkin
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/002683
William Pitchers
1Department of Zoology, Program in Ecology Evolutionary Biology and Behavior, BEACON Center for the study of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
3College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Ecology and Evolution, University of Exeter, Tremough Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9EZ, UK
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Jason B. Wolf
2Department of Biology & Biochemistry, University of Bath, Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK
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Tom Tregenza
3College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Ecology and Evolution, University of Exeter, Tremough Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9EZ, UK
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John Hunt
3College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Ecology and Evolution, University of Exeter, Tremough Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9EZ, UK
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  • For correspondence: J.Hunt@exeter.ac.uk idworkin@msu.edu
Ian Dworkin
1Department of Zoology, Program in Ecology Evolutionary Biology and Behavior, BEACON Center for the study of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
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  • For correspondence: J.Hunt@exeter.ac.uk idworkin@msu.edu
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Summary

A fundamental question in evolutionary biology is the relative importance of selection and genetic architecture in determining evolutionary rates. Adaptive evolution can be described by the multivariate breeders’ equation Embedded Image which predicts evolutionary change for a suite of phenotypic traits Embedded Image as a product of directional selection acting on them (β) and the genetic variance-covariance matrix for those traits (G). Despite being empirically challenging to estimate, there are enough published estimates of G and β to allow for synthesis of general patterns across species. We use published estimates to test the hypotheses that there are systematic differences in the rate of evolution among trait types, and that these differences are in part due to genetic architecture. We find evidence that sexually selected traits exhibit faster rates of evolution compared to life-history or morphological traits. This difference does not appear to be related to stronger selection on sexually selected traits. Using numerous proposed approaches to quantifying the shape, size and structure of G we examine how these parameters relate to one another, and how they vary among taxonomic and trait groupings. Despite considerable variation, they do not explain the observed differences in evolutionary rates.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted February 14, 2014.
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Evolutionary rates for multivariate traits: the role of selection and genetic variation
William Pitchers, Jason B. Wolf, Tom Tregenza, John Hunt, Ian Dworkin
bioRxiv 002683; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/002683
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Evolutionary rates for multivariate traits: the role of selection and genetic variation
William Pitchers, Jason B. Wolf, Tom Tregenza, John Hunt, Ian Dworkin
bioRxiv 002683; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/002683

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