PREDICTING MICROEVOLUTIONARY RESPONSES TO DIRECTIONAL SELECTION ON HERITABLE VARIATION

Peter R Grant; B Rosemary Grant

doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.1995.tb02236.x

PREDICTING MICROEVOLUTIONARY RESPONSES TO DIRECTIONAL SELECTION ON HERITABLE VARIATION

Evolution. 1995 Apr;49(2):241-251. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1995.tb02236.x.

Authors

Peter R Grant¹, B Rosemary Grant¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 08544-1003.

PMID: 28565006
DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1995.tb02236.x

Abstract

Microevolution of quantitative traits in the wild can be predicted from a knowledge of selection and genetic parameters. Testing the predictions requires measurement of the offspring of the selected group, a requirement that is difficult to meet. We present the results of a study of Darwin's finches on the Galápagos island of Daphne Major where this requirement is met. The study demonstrates microevolutionary consequences of natural selection.

Keywords: Beaks; Darwin's finches; Galápagos; body size; extrapolation; genetic correlations; multivariate evolution; nutrition.