title: Testing for a genetic response to sexual selection in a wild Drosophila population.
abstract: In accordance with the consensus that sexual selection is responsible for the rapid evolution of display traits on macroevolutionary scales, microevolutionary studies suggest sexual selection is a widespread and often strong form of directional selection in nature. However, empirical evidence for the contemporary evolution of sexually selected traits via sexual rather than natural selection remains weak. In this study, we used a novel application of quantitative genetic breeding designs to test for a genetic response to sexual selection on eight chemical display traits from a field population of the fly, Drosophila serrata. Using our quantitative genetic approach, we were able to detect a genetically based difference in means between groups of males descended from fathers who had either successfully sired offspring or were randomly collected from the same wild population for one of these display traits, the diene (Z,Z)-5,9-C27 : 2 . Our experimental results, in combination with previous laboratory studies on this system, suggest that both natural and sexual selection may be influencing the evolutionary trajectories of these traits in nature, limiting the capacity for a contemporary evolutionary response.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Qld, Australia.
authors.forename: T P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Gosden
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Qld, Australia.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Thomson
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Qld, Australia.
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Blows
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Qld, Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schaul
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Qld, Australia.
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Chenoweth
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D052586:Mating Preference, Animal; D010641:Phenotype; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal
keywords: Drosophila serrata; contemporary evolution; cuticular hydrocarbons; quantitative genetics