Open AccessEvidence of genetic isolation between sexually monomorphic and sexually dimorphic traits in the water strider Aquarius remigis
Author(s) -
Richard F. Preziosi,
Derek A. Roff
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
heredity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.441
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1365-2540
pISSN - 0018-067X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2540.1998.00380.x
Subject(s) - biology , sexual dimorphism , selection (genetic algorithm) , genetic correlation , heritability , evolutionary biology , natural selection , sexual selection , genetic variability , multivariate statistics , genetic variation , zoology , ecology , genetics , statistics , genotype , gene , mathematics , artificial intelligence , computer science
Estimates of multivariate selection are becoming increasingly common in the literature. Although it is clearly recognized that genetic information is essential to understanding natural selection, few studies include estimates of genetic parameters. Previous studies of the water strider Aquarius remigis have demonstrated selection on body size and components of body size that may favour the evolution and maintenance of sexual size dimorphism. In this paper we present quantitative genetic estimates of heritabilities and genetic correlations for male and female A. remigis . Overall body size (total length) and the majority of components of body size were significantly heritable for both sexes and the shape of the genetic correlation matrix was similar between the sexes. However, patterns of genetic correlations between the sexes and analysis of genetic integration suggest that some traits may be genetically isolated.