Evolution of a predator-induced, nonlinear reaction norm.

Content Provider	Europe PMC
Author	Carter, Mauricio J. Lind, Martin I. Dennis, Stuart R. Hentley, William Beckerman, Andrew P.
Copyright Year	2017
Abstract	Inducible, anti-predator traits are a classic example of phenotypic plasticity. Their evolutionary dynamics depend on their genetic basis, the historical pattern of predation risk that populations have experienced and current selection gradients. When populations experience predators with contrasting hunting strategies and size preferences, theory suggests contrasting micro-evolutionary responses to selection. Daphnia pulex is an ideal species to explore the micro-evolutionary response of anti-predator traits because they face heterogeneous predation regimes, sometimes experiencing only invertebrate midge predators and other times experiencing vertebrate fish and invertebrate midge predators. We explored plausible patterns of adaptive evolution of a predator-induced morphological reaction norm. We combined estimates of selection gradients that characterize the various habitats that D. pulex experiences with detail on the quantitative genetic architecture of inducible morphological defences. Our data reveal a fine scale description of daphnid defensive reaction norms, and a strong covariance between the sensitivity to cues and the maximum response to cues. By analysing the response of the reaction norm to plausible, predator-specific selection gradients, we show how in the context of this covariance, micro-evolution may be more uniform than predicted from size-selective predation theory. Our results show how covariance between the sensitivity to cues and the maximum response to cues for morphological defence can shape the evolutionary trajectory of predator-induced defences in D. pulex.
ISSN	09628452
Journal	Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Volume Number	284
PubMed Central reference number	PMC5577476
Issue Number	1861
PubMed reference number	28835554
e-ISSN	14712954
DOI	10.1098/rspb.2017.0859
Language	English
Publisher	The Royal Society
Publisher Date	2017-08-01
Access Restriction	Open
Rights License	Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. © 2017 The Authors.
Subject Keyword	reaction norm evolution predator-induced plasticity morphological defence Daphnia pulex
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Immunology and Microbiology Medicine Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology Environmental Science Agricultural and Biological Sciences