Opportunity for selection in southern elephant seals: the effect of spatial scale of analysis
Abstract The opportunity for selection, I, calculated as the variance in relative ®tness, sets an upper limit to the amount of adaptive change that selection may produce. Therefore, it is a potentially valuable, and frequently used, measure of the potential of action of phenotypic selection. Althoug...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1079.1024 http://www.eleseal.org/papers/jzl2002.pdf |
| Summary: | Abstract The opportunity for selection, I, calculated as the variance in relative ®tness, sets an upper limit to the amount of adaptive change that selection may produce. Therefore, it is a potentially valuable, and frequently used, measure of the potential of action of phenotypic selection. Although many different aspects of I calculation and analysis have been explored, the effect of the spatial scale chosen for calculation received little attention, notwithstanding the growing evidence that natural populations are not homogeneous and present a hierarchical spatial structure. The effect of scale on the estimation of I was examined from data collected in two populations of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina), an easily observable and strongly polygynous species. A signi®cant effect of spatial scale on three important aspects of I calculation and analysis was found: dependence of I on mean ®tness, between population variation of I, and effect of local demography on I. |
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