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A CORRELATION APPROACH TO CERTAIN PROBLEMS OF POPULATION‐ENVIRONMENT RELATIONS
Author(s) -
Davidson Robert A.,
Dunn Rosalie A.
Publication year - 1967
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1967.tb10674.x
Subject(s) - biology , homogeneity (statistics) , correlation , polygene , population , evolutionary biology , ecology , statistics , genetics , mathematics , quantitative trait locus , geometry , demography , sociology , gene
A model which visualizes a species as a set of biotype subsets is useful when considering the degree of fitness and homogeneity of populations in their environment. Under founder principle concepts we expect that the number of such subsets tends to decrease as local populations encounter new selective forces in environments and habitats other than those occupied by predecessor populations. Relations between biotypes, considered from the point of view of “variation associated with character correlation” or correlated response and polygene systems, imply that the magnitude of product‐moment correlations between characters can be used as a general measure of selective stress impinging upon populations. Magnitude is defined as the per cent of the total possible pairs of characters whose correlation coefficients are significantly different from zero. The direction of magnitude expected under the founder principle is from low in an undisturbed or ancestral situation to high in an alien one. This hypothesis is demonstrated in the genus Froelichia (AMARANTHACEAE).