A synthesis on phenotypic selection
The importance of phenotypic selection as a primary driver of adaptive evolution has been of interest since the time of Darwin, and our ability to understand and quantify how selection operates has been revolutionized in the past few decades through synergisms between evolutionary principles and applications from mathematics and statistics. As a post-doctoral researcher at the NIMBioS, I was systematically reviewing computational methods for evaluating the multivariate nature of selection and morphology, and am testing how altering different model parameters affects the identification of patterns of selection. These computational approaches are being made more accessible in the open-source statistical program, R, in order to facilitate a more systematic procedure for depositing data in digital repositories and providing comparable datasets for future meta-analyses.
Video depicts a 3D fitness surface from ongoing work on the morphological selection of Hawaiian goby fish!
Video depicts a 3D fitness surface from ongoing work on the morphological selection of Hawaiian goby fish!
My review on selection gradients can be found here: https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199941728/obo-9780199941728-0123.xml
Available datasets for studying phenotypic selection include:
Available datasets for studying phenotypic selection include:
- Bumpus HC. 1899. The elimination of the unfit as illustrated by the introduced sparrow, Passer domesticus. Biol. Lectures, Woods Hole Marine Biol. Station 6: 209-226. Download data via www.fieldmuseum.org/blog/hermon-bumpus-and-house-sparrows
- Kawano SM, Bridges WC, Schoenfuss HL, Maie T, Blob RW. 2013. Differences in locomotor behavior correspond to different patterns of morphological selection in two species of waterfall-climbing gobiid fishes. Evolutionary Ecology 27(5): 949-969. Paper available via Springer. Download dataset from Clemson University Tiger Prints.
- Martin CH. 2012. Weak disruptive selection and incomplete phenotypic divergence in two classic examples of sympatric speciation: Cameroon crater lake cichlids. American Naturalist 180(40): E90-E109. Paper available here. Dataset available on Dryad.
