CORRELATED CHARACTERS IN COMPLEX GENETIC SYSTEMS

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Natural selection generally acts on phenotypes, but is in effective without genetic variation between individuals in a population. Genetic correlations between characters are due to ubiquitous pleiotropic (manifold) effects of genes, and linkage disequilibrium (nonrandom associations of alleles affecting different traits). These are particularly important in determining the response to selection, or random genetic drift in small populations, because genetically correlated characters cannot evolve independently. Evolutionary biologists are only beginning to account for the crucial role of genetic correlations in constraining the evolution of populations. This project will focus on modeling evolution of correlated characters in complex genetic systems pertaining to comparative morphology, behavior, ecology and paleontology. Explicit models help to guide empirical research by suggesting new phenomena to investigate and identifying important parameters to be measured. These studies will help to clarify fundamental questions concerning the evolution of correlated characters in natural populations, and will also have applications in pest or disease control programs and in artificial breeding experiments.