Publication Date:
2011-08-03
Description:
In PNAS, Shine et al. (1) discussed the empirical evidence for, and evolutionary importance of, “spatial sorting,” where reproduction between fast-dispersing individuals at a range-expansion front generates novel phenotypes, even in the absence of conventional natural selection. Here, I suggest why the process might be both less and more important than proposed, and a likely key role for natural selection.Species’ ranges cannot expand indefinitely: the exaggeration of dispersal traits at the expansion front caused by spatial sorting will eventually disappear, being gradually diluted after range expansion ceases. If the lattice model were performed for sufficient generations, equilibrium would probably be...
Keywords:
Letters
Print ISSN:
0027-8424
Electronic ISSN:
1091-6490
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
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