[Environmental stress and genetic variation in animal populations]

Abstract

The impact of environmental stress factors on genetic variation in animal populations is considered. It is tentatively concluded that genetical variability of populations generally increases in stressful environments. The exposure to stressful factors result in an increase of recombination and mutation rates. In quantitative traits, on which the review is focused, stress often leads to an increase in the genetic component of variation. Experiments on Drosophila demonstrated that the effect of stress on genetic variation is stress- and trait-specific. The possible role of stress factors in adaptation and evolution of populations is discussed.