INFERRING FITNESS LANDSCAPES

Since 1983, study of natural selection has relied heavily on multiple regression of fitness on the values for a set of traits via ordinary least squares (OLSs), as proposed by Lande and Arnold, to obtain an estimate of the quadratic relationship between fitness and the traits, the fitness surface. However, well‐known statistical problems with this approach can affect inferences about selection. One key concern is that measures of lifetime fitness do not conform to a normal or any other standard sampling distribution, as needed to justify the usual statistical tests. Another is that OLS may yield an estimate of the sign of the fitness function's curvature that is opposite to the truth. We here show that the recently developed aster modeling approach, which explicitly models the components of fitness as the basis for inferences about lifetime fitness, eliminates these problems. We illustrate selection analysis via aster using simulated datasets involving five fitness components expressed in each of four years. We demonstrate that aster analysis yields accurate estimates of the fitness function in cases in which OLS misleads, as well as accurate confidence regions for directional selection gradients. Further, to evaluate selection when many traits are under consideration, we recommend model selection by information criteria and frequentist model averaging.     

THE ECOLOGY AND GENETICS OF FITNESS IN CHLAMYDOMONAS. IV. THE PROPERTIES OF MIXTURES OF GENOTYPES OF THE SAME SPECIES

The properties of mixtures of genotypes of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were investigated by growing them in monoculture and in all possible pairwise combinations in chemically defined axenic medium. Two sets of genotypes produced by crossing wild-type isolates were cultured in each of two physical environments. Mixtures were consistently more productive and less variable over environments than were their constituent monocultures. The average performance of a genotype in mixture was tightly correlated with its performance in monoculture. Reisolation of spores from mixtures at the end of growth showed that the mixtures became dominated by the component with the greater performance in monoculture, so that the properties of mixtures were attributable to replacement rather than to complementation. These results differ from those of similar trials using a range of different species of Chlamydomonas, where genetic interactions were found to be important. They are discussed in relation to theories of diversity and diversification, and related to the agronomic use of crop mixtures.     

阴山荠属一新种兼论该属的演化和地理起源问题

本文描述了阴山荠屑一新种——鄂西阴山荠Yinshania exiensis Y.H.Zhang。新种隶阴山荠系,但形态特征介于阴山荠系的察隅阴山荠和密毛系的叉毛阴山荠之间,分布在鄂西一带。阴山荠属属下系统有2组2系,在研究了本属主要性状特征的演化方向后,本文认为阴山荠组是较原始的一群,小果组是较进化的一群。四川西部及其邻近地区是本属的近代分布区中心或分化中心,本属也可能是从该地区分化起源的。     

北京东灵山地区森林的物种多样性和景观格局多样性研究

选取北京东灵山地区暖温带落叶阔叶林中７种主要森林和１个灌丛类型的１１个样方,通过比较这些类型的物种多样性的相关的环境因子,及运用和度分析测度景观格局多样性,揭示了这些类型物种多样性的差异,与环境因子的关系,及其空间分布规律。结果显示：１）各森林类型乔木层物种丰富度均较低,灌木层和草本层物种丰富度较高。大多数森林类型中,物种丰富度的垂直结构是：草本层〉灌木层〉乔木层。２）各森林类型的Ｓｈａｎｎｏｎ指     

记几种原鼢鼠(啮齿目,鼢鼠科)及鼢鼠科的起源讨论

记述了采自甘肃秦安和内蒙古阿木乌苏中中新世晚期 -晚中新世的 4种早期原鼢鼠 :Prosiphneusqinanensissp .nov.、Pr.qiuisp .nov .、Pr.haoisp .nov .和Pr.licentiTeilharddeChardin ,1 92 6,讨论了原鼢鼠属中 7个种的相互关系及其进化趋势。Prosiphneus是鼢鼠科中最原始的属 ,目前已知最早的种是Pr.qinanensissp .nov.,最晚的种是Pr.ericksoni (Schlos ser,1 92 4 )。Prosiphneus可能起源于PlesiodipusprogressusQiu ,1 996。     

GENETIC DIFFERENTIATION,SYMPATRIC SPECIATION,AND THE ORIGIN OF A DIPLOID SPECIES OF STEPHANOMERIA

Evidence is presented that a geographically peripheral population of the annual Stephanomcria exigua ssp. coronaria (Compositae), a widespread and ecologically diverse species, has recently given rise by a process of sympatric speciation to a diploid species presently designated “Malheurensis.” The new species comprises less than 250 individuals and is found only at a single locality in eastern Oregon where it grows interspersed with its parental population. Stephanomeria exigua ssp. coronaria is an obligate outcrosser and “Malheurensis” is highly self-pollinating. Reproductive isolation is maintained by differences in breeding system, a crossability barrier that reduces seed set following cross-pollination between them, and reduction in hybrid fertility caused by chromosomal structural differences. They are very similar morphologically. Electrophoretic analyses of seven enzyme systems demonstrate that all the alleles but one at the controlling 13 gene loci in “Malheurensis” are identical to alleles in ssp. coronaria. The new species displays certain maladapted features including loss of the specific requirements for seed germination characteristic of the progenitor population of ssp. coronaria. The origin of “Malheurensis” appears to be an exception to the theory of geographical speciation because spatial isolation is not necessary at any time for the origin or establishment of its reproductive isolating barriers. The nature of these barriers plus the genetic homogeneity of the species are compatible with the hypothesis that it derives from a single progenitor individual. Very little genetic change is involved initially in this mode of speciation.     

SHIFTING FITNESS LANDSCAPES IN RESPONSE TO ALTERED ENVIRONMENTS

The role of adaptation in molecular evolution has been contentious for decades. Here, we shed light on the adaptive potential in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by presenting systematic fitness measurements for all possible point mutations in a region of Hsp90 under four environmental conditions. Under elevated salinity, we observe numerous beneficial mutations with growth advantages up to 7% relative to the wild type. All of these beneficial mutations were observed to be associated with high costs of adaptation. We thus demonstrate that an essential protein can harbor adaptive potential upon an environmental challenge, and report a remarkable fit of the data to a version of Fisher's geometric model that focuses on the fitness trade‐offs between mutations in different environments.     

MOLECULAR EVIDENCE FOR THE ORIGIN OF THE S-DERIVED GENOMES OF POLYPLOID TRITICUM SPECIES

The genus Triticum includes several polyploid species that arose due to hybridization between two or more diploid species. Section Sitopsis is comprised of five diploid species given the genome designation S. Four polyploid species are recognized that contain an S or S-derived genome. We have used two repetitive DNA sequences found primarily in the S genomes of Triticum to determine the likely diploid progenitors of the polyploid species. Comparison of restriction fragments that hybridize to probes for these sequences suggests that T. speltoides is distinct from other members of section Sitopsis (i.e., T. longissimum, T. bicorne, T. searsii, and T. sharonense). The S-derived genome of T. aestivum is more closely related to T. speltoides than to the other Sitopsis diploids. The restriction fragment pattern of T. timopheevii is 98% identical to that of T. speltoides, while those of T. kotschyi and T. syriacum are identical to the group of diploids represented by T. longissimum, T. bicorne, T. searsii, and T. sharonense. Our results are compatible with previous molecular and biochemical data regarding relationships among Triticum species containing an S or S-derived genome.     

FITNESS SENSITIVITY AND THE CANALIZATION OF LIFE-HISTORY TRAITS

Canalization is an abstract term that describes unknown developmental mechanisms that reduce phenotypic variation. A trait can be canalized against environmental perturbations (e.g., changes in temperature or nutrient quality), or genetic perturbations (e.g., mutations or recombination); this paper is about genetic canalization. Stabilizing selection should improve the canalization of traits, and the degree of canalization should be positively correlated with the traits' impact on fitness. Experiments testing this idea should measure the canalization of a series of traits whose impact on fitness is known or can be inferred, exclude differences among traits in the number of loci and alleles segregating as an explanation for the pattern of variability found, and distinguish between canalization against genetic and environmental variation. These conditions were met by three experiments within which the variation of fitness components among Drosophila melanogaster lines was measured and among which the genetic contribution to the variation among lines was clearly different. The canalization of the traits increased with their impact on fitness and did not depend on the degree of genetic differences among lines. That the flies used had been transformed by a P-element insert suggests that canalization was also effective against novel genetic variation. The results reported here cannot be explained by the classical hypothesis of reduction in the number of loci segregating for traits with greater impact on fitness and confirm that traits with greater impact on fitness are more strongly canalized. This pattern of canalization reveals an underappreciated role for development in microevolution. There is differential genetic canalization of fitness components in D. melanogaster.