Analyses of physiological evolutionary response

Abstract

Selection studies are useful if they can provide us with insights into the patterns and processes of evolution in populations under controlled conditions. In this context it is particularly valuable to be able to analyze the limitations of and constraints on evolutionary responses to allow predictions concerning evolutionary change. The concept of a selection pathway is presented as a means of visualizing this predictive process and the constraints that help define the population's response to selection. As pointed out by Gould and Lewontin, history and chance are confounding forces that can mask or distort the adaptive response. Students of the evolutionary responses of organisms are very interested in the effects of these confounding forces, since they play a critical role not only in the laboratory but also in natural selection in the field. In this article, we describe some methods that are a bit different from those used in most studies for examining data from laboratory selection studies. These analytical methods are intended to provide insights into the physiological mechanisms by which evolutionary responses to the environment proceed. Interestingly, selection studies often exhibit disparate responses in replicate populations. We offer methods for analyzing these disparate responses in replicate populations to better understand this very important source of variability in the evolutionary response. We review the techniques of Travisano et al. and show that these approaches can be used to investigate the relative roles of adaptation, history, and chance in the evolutionary responses of populations of Drosophila melanogaster to selection for enhanced desiccation resistance. We anticipate that a wider application of these techniques will provide valuable insights into the organismal, genetic, and molecular nature of the constraints, as well as the factors that serve to enhance or, conversely, to mask the effects of chance. Such studies should help to provide a more detailed understanding of the processes producing evolutionary change in populations.