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Gregory F. Grether

Bio: Gregory F. Grether is an academic researcher from University of California, Los Angeles. The author has contributed to research in topics: Hetaerina & Character displacement. The author has an hindex of 37, co-authored 91 publications receiving 4472 citations. Previous affiliations of Gregory F. Grether include University of California, Davis & University of California, Santa Barbara.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Results support the ‘sensory–bias’ hypothesis for the evolution of mating preferences by showing both an association between a potential trigger of a mate–choice preference and a sexually selected trait, and also that an innate attraction to a coloured inanimate object explains almost all of the observed variation in female mate choice.
Abstract: In most animals, the origins of mating preferences are not clear. The ‘sensory-bias’ hypothesis proposes that biases in female sensory or neural systems are important in triggering sexual selection and in determining which male traits will become elaborated into sexual ornaments. Subsequently, other mechanisms can evolve for discriminating between high- and low-quality mates. Female guppies (Poecilia reticulata) generally show a preference for males with larger, more chromatic orange spots. It has been proposed that this preference originated because it enabled females to obtain high-quality mates. We present evidence for an alternative hypothesis, that the origin of the preference is a pleiotropic effect of a sensory bias for the colour orange, which might have arisen in the context of food detection. In field and laboratory experiments, adult guppies of both sexes were more responsive to orange-coloured objects than to objects of other colours, even outside a mating context. Across populations, variation in attraction to orange objects explained 94% of the inter-population variation in female mate preference for orange coloration on males. This is one of the first studies to show both an association between a potential trigger of a mate-choice preference and a sexually selected trait, and also that an innate attraction to a coloured inanimate object explains almost all of the observed variation in female mate choice. These results support the ‘sensorybias’ hypothesis for the evolution of mating preferences.

329 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An individual‐based, quantitative genetic model is developed to examine how traits involved in competitor recognition would be expected to evolve under different secondary contact scenarios and shows that both divergence and convergence are possible outcomes.
Abstract: The extent to which interspecific interference competition has contributed to character evolution is one of the most neglected problems in evolutionary biology. When formerly allopatric species come into secondary contact, aggressive interactions between the species can cause selection on traits that affect interspecific encounter rates (e.g. habitat preferences, activity schedules), competitor recognition (e.g. colouration, song), and fighting ability (e.g. weaponry, body size). We define agonistic character displacement (ACD) as the process of phenotypic evolution in a population caused by interference competition with one or more sympatric species and which results in shifts in traits that affect the rate, intensity or outcome of interspecific aggression. After clarifying the relationships between ACD and other evolutionary processes that may occur when species come into secondary contact, we develop an individual-based, quantitative genetic model to examine how traits involved in competitor recognition would be expected to evolve under different secondary contact scenarios. Our simulation results show that both divergence and convergence are possible outcomes, depending on the intensity of interspecific exploitative competition, the costs associated with mutual versus unilateral recognition, and the extent of phenotypic differences prior to secondary contact. We then devise a set of eight criteria for evaluating putative examples of ACD and review the empirical literature to assess the strength of existing evidence and to identify promising avenues for future research. Our literature search revealed 33 putative examples of ACD across insects, fishes, bats, birds, lizards, and amphibians (15 divergence examples; 18 convergence examples). Only one example satisfies all eight criteria for demonstrating ACD, but most case studies satisfy four or more criteria. The current state of the evidence for ACD is similar to the state of the evidence for ecological character displacement just 10 years ago. We conclude by offering suggestions for further theoretical and empirical research on ACD.

281 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is shown that carotenoid availability in the wild limits the expression of sexual coloration in guppies (Poecilia reticulata), a species in which females prefer males with brighter orange-containing spots, which opens new avenues for testing signal evolution theory.
Abstract: Carotenoids produce most of the brilliant orange and yellow colours seen in animals, but animals cannot synthesize these pigments and must rely on dietary sources. The idea that carotenoids make good signals because they are a scarce limiting resource was proposed two decades ago and has become the leading hypothesis for the role of carotenoids in animal communication. To our knowledge, until now, however, there has been no direct evidence that carotenoids are a limiting resource in nature. We showed that carotenoid availability in the wild limits the expression of sexual coloration in guppies (Poecilia reticulata), a species in which females prefer males with brighter orange carotenoid-containing spots. Further, the degree of carotenoid limitation varies geographically along a replicated environmental gradient (rainforest canopy cover), which opens new avenues for testing signal evolution theory.

264 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Specific, testable functional hypotheses are offered for the most common pigmentary and structural components of vertebrate colour patches and how multiple trait evolution theory can be applied to the components of single colour patches.
Abstract: Colour patches are complex traits, the components of which may evolve independently through a variety of mechanisms. Although usually treated as simple, two-dimensional characters and classified as either structural or pigmentary, in reality colour patches are complicated, three-dimensional structures that often contain multiple pigment types and structural features. The basic dermal chromatophore unit of fishes, reptiles and amphibians consists of three contiguous cell layers. Xanthophores and erythrophores in the outermost layer contain carotenoid and pteridine pigments that absorb short-wave light; iridophores in the middle layer contain crystalline platelets that reflect light back through the xanthophores; and melanophores in the basal layer contain melanins that absorb light across the spectrum. Changes in any one component of a chromatophore unit can drastically alter the reflectance spectrum produced, and for any given adaptive outcome (e.g. an increase in visibility), there may be multiple biochemical or cellular routes that evolution could take, allowing for divergent responses by different populations or species to similar selection regimes. All of the mechanisms of signal evolution that previously have been applied to single ornaments (including whole colour patches) could potentially be applied to the individual components of colour patches. To reach a complete understanding of colour patch evolution, however, it may be necessary to take an explicitly multi-trait approach. Here, we review multiple trait evolution theory and the basic mechanisms of colour production in fishes, reptiles and amphibians, and use a combination of computer simulations and empirical examples to show how multiple trait evolution theory can be applied to the components of single colour patches. This integrative perspective on animal colouration opens up a host of new questions and hypotheses. We offer specific, testable functional hypotheses for the most common pigmentary (carotenoid, pteridine and melanin) and structural components of vertebrate colour patches.

245 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jun 2001-Ecology
TL;DR: It is shown that food availability for guppies decreases as forest canopy cover increases, among six low predation streams in the forest, and predation alone may not be sufficient to explain the observed life history patterns.
Abstract: Life history traits in guppies (Poecilia reticulata) vary geographically along a predator assemblage gradient, and field experiments have indicated that the association may be causal; guppies introduced from high predation sites to low predation sites have evolved the phenotype associated with low predation in as few as seven generations. It has long been recognized, however, that low predation sites tend to have greater forest canopy cover than high predation sites. Stream differences in canopy cover could translate into stream differences in resource availability, another theoretically potent agent of selection on life history traits. Moreover, new computer simulations indicate that the high predation phenotype would outcompete the low predation phenotype under both mortality regimes. Thus, predation alone may not be sufficient to explain the observed life history patterns. Here we show that food availability for guppies decreases as forest canopy cover increases, among six low predation streams in the ...

245 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols used xiii 1.
Abstract: Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols Used xiii 1. The Importance of Islands 3 2. Area and Number of Speicies 8 3. Further Explanations of the Area-Diversity Pattern 19 4. The Strategy of Colonization 68 5. Invasibility and the Variable Niche 94 6. Stepping Stones and Biotic Exchange 123 7. Evolutionary Changes Following Colonization 145 8. Prospect 181 Glossary 185 References 193 Index 201

14,171 citations

Journal Article
Fumio Tajima1
30 Oct 1989-Genomics
TL;DR: It is suggested that the natural selection against large insertion/deletion is so weak that a large amount of variation is maintained in a population.

11,521 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: For the next few weeks the course is going to be exploring a field that’s actually older than classical population genetics, although the approach it’ll be taking to it involves the use of population genetic machinery.
Abstract: So far in this course we have dealt entirely with the evolution of characters that are controlled by simple Mendelian inheritance at a single locus. There are notes on the course website about gametic disequilibrium and how allele frequencies change at two loci simultaneously, but we didn’t discuss them. In every example we’ve considered we’ve imagined that we could understand something about evolution by examining the evolution of a single gene. That’s the domain of classical population genetics. For the next few weeks we’re going to be exploring a field that’s actually older than classical population genetics, although the approach we’ll be taking to it involves the use of population genetic machinery. If you know a little about the history of evolutionary biology, you may know that after the rediscovery of Mendel’s work in 1900 there was a heated debate between the “biometricians” (e.g., Galton and Pearson) and the “Mendelians” (e.g., de Vries, Correns, Bateson, and Morgan). Biometricians asserted that the really important variation in evolution didn’t follow Mendelian rules. Height, weight, skin color, and similar traits seemed to

9,847 citations

01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: The modern applied statistics with s is universally compatible with any devices to read, and is available in the digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can download it instantly.
Abstract: Thank you very much for downloading modern applied statistics with s. As you may know, people have search hundreds times for their favorite readings like this modern applied statistics with s, but end up in harmful downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they cope with some harmful virus inside their laptop. modern applied statistics with s is available in our digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can download it instantly. Our digital library saves in multiple countries, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Kindly say, the modern applied statistics with s is universally compatible with any devices to read.

5,249 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is concluded that adaptive plasticity that places populations close enough to a new phenotypic optimum for directional selection to act is the only Plasticity that predictably enhances fitness and is most likely to facilitate adaptive evolution on ecological time-scales in new environments.
Abstract: Summary 1The role of phenotypic plasticity in evolution has historically been a contentious issue because of debate over whether plasticity shields genotypes from selection or generates novel opportunities for selection to act. Because plasticity encompasses diverse adaptive and non-adaptive responses to environmental variation, no single conceptual framework adequately predicts the diverse roles of plasticity in evolutionary change. 2Different types of phenotypic plasticity can uniquely contribute to adaptive evolution when populations are faced with new or altered environments. Adaptive plasticity should promote establishment and persistence in a new environment, but depending on how close the plastic response is to the new favoured phenotypic optimum dictates whether directional selection will cause adaptive divergence between populations. Further, non-adaptive plasticity in response to stressful environments can result in a mean phenotypic response being further away from the favoured optimum or alternatively increase the variance around the mean due to the expression of cryptic genetic variation. The expression of cryptic genetic variation can facilitate adaptive evolution if by chance it results in a fitter phenotype. 3We conclude that adaptive plasticity that places populations close enough to a new phenotypic optimum for directional selection to act is the only plasticity that predictably enhances fitness and is most likely to facilitate adaptive evolution on ecological time-scales in new environments. However, this type of plasticity is likely to be the product of past selection on variation that may have been initially non-adaptive. 4We end with suggestions on how future empirical studies can be designed to better test the importance of different kinds of plasticity to adaptive evolution.

2,417 citations