1997/05/01 by T. J. Kawecki, Tadeusz J. Kawecki, N. H. Barton +2 · 2 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Social Sciences · #Evolution and Genetic Dynamics #Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation #Genetic diversity and population structure
paper · pdf · doi:10.1046/j.1420-9101.1997.10030407.x
openalex publication_date 1997/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Abstract In spatially heterogeneous environments, natural selection for maintenance of adaptation to habitats that contribute little to the population's reproduction is weak. In this paper we model a mechanism that can result in loss of fitness in such marginal habitats, and thus lead to specialisation on the main habitat. It involves accumulation of mutations that are deleterious in the marginal habitat but neutral or nearly so in the main habitat (mutations deleterious in the main habitat and neutral in the marginal habitat have a negligible influence). If the contribution of the marginal habitat to total reproduction in the absence of the mutations is less than a threshold value, selection is too weak to counter accumulation of such mutations. A positive feedback then results in loss of fitness in the marginal habitat. This mechanism does not require antagonistic pleiotropy in adaptation to different habitats, although antagonistic pleiotropy facilitates the mutational collapse of fitness in the marginal habitat. We suggest that deleterious mutations with habitat‐specific expression may play a role in the evolution of ecological specialisation and promote evolutionary conservatism of ecological niches.