DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Environmentally-driven coupling of selection and heritability in a wild insect population

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Environmental variation can dramatically alter trait evolution in wild populations because it affects two drivers of adaptive evolution: natural selection and heritability (the resemblance between parents and offspring). Variation in selection among environments is common; intriguingly, recent studies demonstrate that the environment also affects heritability. Consequently, environmental variation may generate a systematic association between these two forces, which could accelerate evolution if selection is strongest in the same environment that produces high heritability. The proposed work will examine environmental coupling of selection and heritability in a male trait (horns) in wild populations of forked fungus beetles (Bolitotherus cornutus). The proposed work will measure selection on horn length in ten beetle populations from three different fungal environments and estimate the heritability of horn length in the same populations. These data will be used to measure the correlation between selection and heritability and quantify its effect on the predicted response to selection. Understanding factors that constrain adaptive evolution under varying environmental conditions is particularly important in the context of climate change. In addition, the project involves training of a graduate student and mentorship of undergraduate students. Components of the project will be used in workshops for the Mountain Lake Biological Station partnership with local educators in rural southwestern Virginia. The research results will be disseminated in scientific journals, academic conferences, and interdisciplinary symposia, such as the Jefferson Scholars Foundation?s Forum for Interdisciplinary Dialogue.