Abstract
Lines of Chlamydomonas were selected for growth either in Light or in Dark conditions for several hundred generations. Evolved lines that grew well in the environment of selection grew less well in the other environment, so that negative genetic correlation between Light and Dark growth was created by selection. The existence of a cost of adaptation was confirmed by reverse selection. The lines were also exposed to environments that varied either in space or in time with respect to Light and Dark conditions. Specialization (genetic variation) was retained in spatially variable environments, whereas generalization (phenotypic plasticity) evolved in temporally varying environments. The original negative correlation between adaptation to Light and Dark conditions seemed to be caused primarily by mutation accumulation rather than by antagonistic pleiotropy. It was thereby possible to select a generalist type nearly as well adapted in each environment as a specialist line.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Bell, G. 1991. The ecology and genetics of fitness in Chlamydomonas. III. Genotype-by-environment interaction within strains. Evolution, 45, 668–679.
Bell, G. 1992. The ecology and genetics of fitness in Chlamydomonas. V. The relationship between genetic correlation and environmental variance. Evolution, 46, 561–566.
Bell, G A C. 1997. Experimental evolution in Chlamydomonas. I. Short-term selection in uniform and diverse environments. Heredity, 78, 490–497.
Bell, G, and Koufopanou, V. 1986. The cost of reproduction. In: Dawkins, R. & Ridley, M. (eds) Oxford Surveys in Evolutionary Biology vol. 3, pp. 83–131. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Bell, G, and Reboud, X. 1997. Experimental evolution in Chlamydomonas. II. Genetic variation in strongly contrasted environments. Heredity, 78, 498–506.
Charnov, E L. 1982. The Theory of Sex Allocation. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Falconer, D S. 1952. The problem of environment and selection. Am Nat, 86, 293–298.
Falconer, D S. 1981. Introduction to Quantitative Genetics, 2nd edn. Longman, Harlow, Essex.
Fisher, R A. 1930. The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Futuyma, D J, and Moreno, G. 1988. The evolution of ecological specialization. Ann Rev Ecol Syst, 19, 133–143.
Gavrilets, S, and Scheiner, S M. 1993. The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. V. Evolution of reaction norm shape. J Evol Biol, 6, 31–48.
Gillespie, J H. 1977. Natural selection for variance in offspring numbers: a new evolutionary principle. Am Nat, 111, 1010–1014.
Gillespie, J H, and Turelli, M. 1989. Genotype-environment interactions and the maintenance of polygenic variation. Genetics, 121, 129–138.
Haldane, J B S, and Jayakar, S D. 1963. Polymorphism due to selection of varying direction. J Genet, 58, 237–242.
Harris, E. 1989. The Chlamydomonas Source-Book. Academic Press, New York.
Hedrick, P W. 1986. Genetic polymorphism in heterogeneous environments: a decade later. Ann Rev Ecol Syst, 17, 535–566.
Levene, H. 1953. Genetic equilibrium when more than one ecological niche is available. Am Nat, 78, 331–333.
Levins, R. 1968. Evolution in Changing Environments. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Maynard Smith, J, and Hoekstra, R. 1980. Polymorphism in a varied environment: how robust are the models? Genet Res, 35, 45–57.
Reznick, D. 1985. Costs of reproduction: an evaluation of the empirical evidence. Oikos, 44, 257–267.
Rose, M R. 1991. Evolutionary Biology of Aging. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Roughgarden, J. 1972. Evolution of niche width. Am Nat, 106, 683–718.
Sultan, S E. 1992. Phenotypic plasticity and the Neo-Darwinian legacy. Evol Trends Plants, 6, 61–68.
Via, S, and Lande, R. 1985. Genotype-environment interaction and the evolution of phenotypic plasticity. Evolution, 39, 505–522.
Via, S, and Lande, R. 1987. Evolution of genetic variability in a spatially heterogeneous environment: effects of genotype-environment interaction. Genet Res, 49, 147–156.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Reboud, X., Bell, G. Experimental evolution in Chlamydomonas. III. Evolution of specialist and generalist types in environments that vary in space and time. Heredity 78, 507–514 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1997.79
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1997.79
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Stochastic Fluctuations Drive Non-genetic Evolution of Proliferation in Clonal Cancer Cell Populations
Bulletin of Mathematical Biology (2023)
-
Consequences of mutation accumulation for growth performance are more likely to be resource-dependent at higher temperatures
BMC Ecology and Evolution (2021)
-
Species identity drives ecosystem function in a subsidy-dependent coastal ecosystem
Oecologia (2021)
-
Evolution of generalist resistance to herbicide mixtures reveals a trade-off in resistance management
Nature Communications (2020)
-
Multi-host environments select for host-generalist conjugative plasmids
BMC Evolutionary Biology (2016)