Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Chapters 4 and 14 in second volyme ("Selection")

These two chapters in the second volume (available on the web) are rather basic, and they deal with the non-adaptive processes of evolution (genetic drift, mutation and recombination, chapter 4), and the adaptive process of evolution (i. e. selection, chapter 14), and how to analyze the effects of these processes. Two concepts strike me as being very important in these chapters and worthy of discussion: Realized heritability and asymmetric selection response. Both are parameters that kan be estimated from artificial selection experiments in the laboratory, and difficulties in how to interpret them are discussed in chapter 14.

I encourage you to search for additional litterature on asymmetric selection responses (e. g. in ISI-databases). What kind of theories are there to explain these asymmetric selection responses? Can realized heritabilities and asymmetric selection responses ever be estimated in natural populations, or can we only study them in laboratory settings?

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