scholarly journals Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive & Dependence: Using Dodgeball to Explore Frequency Dependent Selection

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (7) ◽  
pp. 603-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam M. M. Stuckert ◽  
Heather D. Vance-Chalcraft
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Frequency Dependence ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Frequency Dependent ◽  
Frequency Dependent Selection ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Biology Students ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

The term frequency dependence describes scenarios in which the likelihood of an event occurring is strongly tied to how common a particular trait is. Understanding frequency dependence is key to understanding numerous biological processes relevant to evolution by natural selection, such as predation, mimicry, disease, and effective vaccinations. We use dodgeball to demonstrate frequency dependent selection in a hypothetical predator–prey community, and provide possible extensions into other topics. This activity can be used with biology students in high school through upper-level undergraduate courses.

Frequency-dependent selection and competition: empirical approaches

1988 ◽  
Vol 319 (1196) ◽  
pp. 601-613 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Competitive Interactions ◽  
Frequency Dependent ◽  
Frequency Dependent Selection ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
Competitive Outcome ◽  
Competition Models ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection ◽  
Survival Of The Fittest ◽  
Empirical Approaches

When Darwin and Wallace first formulated the theory of evolution by natural selection, they were greatly influenced by the idea that populations tend to increase geometrically and rapidly outgrow the resources available to them. They argued that the ensuing competition among individuals would be a major agent of natural selection. Since their day, competition has become almost synonymous with the idea of natural selection or survival of the fittest. In this paper we examine the relation between competition and selection by using simple competition models, consider the interaction of density and frequency in determining competitive outcome, and review the literature on frequency-dependent competitive interactions among genotypes within populations.

scholarly journals Intruder colour and light environment jointly determine how nesting male stickleback respond to simulated territorial intrusions

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 20160467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel I. Bolnick ◽  
Kimberly Hendrix ◽  
Lyndon Alexander Jordan ◽  
Thor Veen ◽  
Chad D. Brock
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Dependence ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Light Environment ◽  
Depth Gradient ◽  
Frequency Dependent ◽  
Frequency Dependent Selection ◽  
Negative Frequency Dependent Selection ◽  
Colour Signals

Variation in male nuptial colour signals might be maintained by negative frequency-dependent selection. This can occur if males are more aggressive towards rivals with locally common colour phenotypes. To test this hypothesis, we introduced red or melanic three-dimensional printed-model males into the territories of nesting male stickleback from two optically distinct lakes with different coloured residents. Red-throated models were attacked more in the population with red males, while melanic models were attacked more in the melanic male lake. Aggression against red versus melanic models also varied across a depth gradient within each lake, implying that the local light environment also modulated the strength of negative frequency dependence acting on male nuptial colour.

A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK RELATING TO EXPONENTIALLY FREQUENCY-DEPENDENT SELECTION MODEL IN POLLAK'S SENSE

2009 ◽  
Vol 02 (02) ◽  
pp. 179-196
Author(s):  
DULAL CHANDRA SANYAL ◽  
BIJAN SARKAR
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Fundamental Theorem ◽  
Equilibrium Points ◽  
Mathematical Expression ◽  
Genetic System ◽  
Selection Model ◽  
Frequency Dependent ◽  
Frequency Dependent Selection ◽  
The Mean

Allowing the exponentially frequency-dependent fitnesses and taking into consideration the viability effect on the fertility model, a deterministic mathematical model of selection in a one-locus two-allele genetic system has been developed in such a way that equilibrium frequencies of the three genotypes are the same as those of optimizing the mean fertility of the population. Under the consideration of both exponentially increasing and decreasing nature environments in the sense of viability and fertility selections to be opposite, degenerate optimization points have been calculated by verifying whether those equilibrium points are Kuhn–Tucker points or not. The Hadeler–Liberman symmetric fertility model has also been accounted for derivation of all sets of frequencies of this type. Assuming the Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection, a mathematical expression has been derived to show the variation of mean fertility with generation.

Frequency dependence and competition

1988 ◽  
Vol 319 (1196) ◽  
pp. 587-600 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Frequency Dependence ◽  
Intraspecific Competition ◽  
Genotypic Variation ◽  
Frequency Dependent ◽  
Behavioural Interactions ◽  
Limiting Resources ◽  
The Individual

Intraspecific competition implies interaction among the individuals of a population, so natural selection on genotypic variation in characters related to the competition will necessarily be frequency dependent. Intraspecific antagonistic competition exhibits properties similar to other behavioural interactions between individuals. In exploitative intraspecific competition the interactions among individuals are less direct. Exploitation modifies the abundance of the various limiting resources according to the use of these resources by the individual members of the population. The amount of resource available to an individual is therefore a function of the phenotypes present in the population, through their density and frequency.

Frequency-dependent selection in bacterial populations

1988 ◽  
Vol 319 (1196) ◽  
pp. 459-472 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Genetic Variability ◽  
Mass Culture ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Frequency Dependent ◽  
Bacterial Populations ◽  
Frequency Dependent Selection ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Restriction Modification ◽  
Restriction Modification Systems

There are many situations in which the direction and intensity of natural selection in bacterial populations will depend on the relative frequencies of genotypes. In some cases, this selection will favour rare genotypes and result in the maintenance of genetic variability; this is termed stabilizing frequency-dependent selection. In other cases, selection will only favour genotypes when they are common. Rare types cannot invade and genetic variability will not be maintained; this is known as disruptive frequency-dependent selection. Phage-mediated selection for bacteria with novel restriction-modification systems is frequency-dependent and stabilizing. In mass culture, selection for the production of toxins and allelopathic agents is likely to be frequency-dependent but disruptive. This also occurs in selection favouring genes and transposable elements that cause mutations. Here I review the results of theoretical and experimental studies of stabilizing and disruptive frequency-dependent selection in bacterial populations, and speculate on the importance of this kind of selection in the adaptation and evolution of these organisms and their accessory elements (plasmid, phage and transposons).

scholarly journals Inference from clines stabilized by frequency-dependent selection.

Genetics ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 967-976 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Mallet ◽  
N Barton
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Dependence ◽  
Linear Models ◽  
Dispersal Distance ◽  
Square Root ◽  
Weak Selection ◽  
Gene Frequencies ◽  
Frequency Dependent ◽  
Maximum Slope ◽  
Frequency Dependent Selection ◽  
Level Of Selection

Abstract Frequency-dependent selection against rare forms can maintain clines. For weak selection, s, in simple linear models of frequency-dependence, single locus clines are stabilized with a maximum slope of between square root of s/square root of 8 sigma and square root of s/square root of 12 delta, where sigma is the dispersal distance. These clines are similar to those maintained by heterozygote disadvantage. Using computer simulations, the weak-selection analytical results are extended to higher selection pressures with up to three unlinked genes. Graphs are used to display the effect of selection, migration, dominance, and number of loci on cline widths, speeds of cline movements, two-way gametic correlations ("linkage disequilibria"), and heterozygote deficits. The effects of changing the order of reproduction, migration, and selection, are also briefly explored. Epistasis can also maintain tension zones. We show that epistatic selection is similar in its effects to frequency-dependent selection, except that the disequilibria produced in the zone will be higher for a given level of selection. If selection consists of a mixture of frequency-dependence and epistasis, as is likely in nature, the error made in estimating selection is usually less than twofold. From the graphs, selection and migration can be estimated using knowledge of the dominance and number of genes, of gene frequencies and of gametic correlations from a hybrid zone.

Introduction

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Doebeli
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Modeling ◽  
Frequency Dependence ◽  
Biological Interactions ◽  
Heritable Variation ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectory ◽  
Frequency Dependent ◽  
Frequency Dependent Selection ◽  
Suitable Parameter ◽  
Space Frequency

This introductory chapter provides an overview of frequency-dependent selection—the phenomenon that the evolving population is part of the changing environment determining the evolutionary trajectory. Selection is frequency-dependent if the sign and magnitude of the correlations between heritable variation and reproductive variation change as a consequence of changes in the trait distribution that are themselves generated by such correlations. From the perspective of mathematical modeling, the realm of frequency dependence in evolution is larger than the realm of situations in which selection is not frequency dependent, because the absence of frequency dependence in a mathematical model of evolution essentially means that some parameters describing certain types of biological interactions are set to zero. Thus, in a suitable parameter space, frequency independence corresponds to the region around zero, while everything else corresponds to frequency dependence. In this way, frequency-dependent selection should therefore be considered the norm, not the exception, for evolutionary processes.

A Role-Playing Exercise That Demonstrates the Process of Evolution by Natural Selection: Caching Squirrels in a World of Pilferers

2011 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 208-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan E. Riechert ◽  
Rachel N. Leander ◽  
Suzanne M. Lenhart
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
High School ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Board Game ◽  
Strategic Role ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

We introduce a strategic role-playing exercise that is based on the fact that the strategies animals use in storing food for periods of famine differ in the degree to which the cache is successfully relocated and defended from pilferers. This highly engaging board game offers high school and college students a clear understanding of the process of natural selection.

Modeling Evolution in the Classroom: An Interactive LEGO Simulation

2017 ◽  
Vol 79 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abby Hongsermeier ◽  
Nealy F. Grandgenett ◽  
Dawn M. Simon
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Genetic Drift ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Introductory Biology ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
School Students ◽  
Evolutionary Mechanisms ◽  
Biology Students

Evolutionary theory is critical for a comprehensive understanding of biology, yet students often fail to grasp its underlying principles. This results partially from ineffective teaching; however, the use of interactive activities could alleviate this problem. In this guided investigation of evolutionary mechanisms, students use LEGO bricks to simulate how mutation, migration, genetic drift, and natural selection can affect the evolution of a population. This exercise was undertaken and assessed with college introductory biology students, but is also appropriate for advanced high school students.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document