TY - JOUR T1 - On the dynamics of reproductive values and phenotypic traits in class-structured populations JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/155879 SP - 155879 AU - Sébastien Lion Y1 - 2017/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/06/26/155879.abstract N2 - Natural populations are structured according to the physiological, demographic or ecological state of individuals. This class structure has important evolutionary consequences because the fitness of individuals with the same genetic background may vary depending on their class. These intrinsic differences between classes are classically taken into account by weighting classes by their reproductive values, which are generally constant weights calculated in exponentially growing populations or in invasion dynamics in populations at demographic equilibrium. This yields a simpler Price equation where the non-selective effects of between-class transitions are removed from the dynamics of the trait. Here, I show that, for large populations and clonal reproduction, this result can be extended using time-dependent reproductive values. In contrast to previous studies, this holds in a large class of ecological scenarios, out of equilibrium and for arbitrary trait distributions. I discuss the role of these reproductive values for prospective and retrospective analyses of the dynamics of phenotypic traits. This study extends and clarifies the central role of reproductive values in evolutionary ecology. ER -