Evolutionary Pattern and Process

9903934阿诺德这项研究将为分析连续性状的进化模式开发新方法。进化模式是随着时间的推移，性状的变异和协变的趋势。连续性状是一类特别重要的表型性状。在自然种群中，身体大小、形态测量、生理属性和许多行为特征都表现出连续的变化，被称为连续特征。将要开发的方法使用遗传模型(数量遗传)，其中特征受到许多遗传因素的影响，每一种遗传因素的影响都很小。要使用这些模型，必须分析它们的演变趋势。这些分析将通过比较多个群体的鳞片性状的遗传来完成。虽然有些性状受一个或几个基因的影响，但大多数性状都表现为数量遗传。在农业上重要的性状，如体型和精神分裂症等医疗条件，都是具有数量遗传的性状。为了了解这些性状在短期和长期内是如何变化的，必须研究它们的遗传系统。将要开发的方法是第一批解决受许多基因影响的性状遗传的长期趋势问题的方法之一。

9903934Arnold This study will develop new methods for analyzing evolutionary patterns in continuous characters. Evolutionary patterns are trends over time in the variation and covariation of characters. Continuous characters are a particularly important category of phenotypic traits. Body size, morphological measurements, physiological attributes, and many behavioral characteristics show continuous variation in natural populations and are referred to as continuous characters. The methods that will be developed use models of inheritance (quantitative inheritance) in which the characters are affected by many genetic elements, each of which has a small effect. To use these models, their evolution tendencies must be assayed. Those assays will be accomplished by comparing inheritance of scalation traits in multiple populations of closely related species of garter snake (Thamnophis).Although some characters are affected by one or a few genes, most characters show quantitative inheritance. Agriculturally important traits such as body size and such medical conditions as schizophrenia are examples of traits with quantitative inheritance. To understand how these traits change both in the short term and in the long run, their inheritance systems must be studied. The methods to be developed are among the first to address the issue of long term trends in the inheritance of characters affected by many genes.