Multiple-trait coevolution and environmental gradients in guppies

Abstract

Guppies show geographical variation in many different kinds of traits. Traits covary with each other, with predation and with other environmental factors. Phenotypic correlations are often assumed to result from genetic correlations, but may also result from covariation among different sources of natural selection and interactions among the traits' functions. This network of interactions could bias the direction of evolution in characteristic ways, and suggests how intraspecific variation may give rise to interspecific variation.