The evolution of habitat preference in subdivided populations.

When density-dependent population regulation occurs independently in different habitats within a mosaic environment, a form of frequency-dependent selection can maintain genetic variation at a single locus affecting habitat preference. The conditions under which variation is maintained are not unduly restrictive. Fretwell's suggestion that selection modifies habitat preference in such a way as to equalize viabilities in different habitats is true if habitat preferences does not affect fecundity. When fecundity is affected, a generalization of Fretwell's suggestion to equalization of parental investment is valid under certain realistic assumptions about how variation in preference affects fecundity. The relevance of the analysis to the process of host race formation and sympatric speciation in phytophagous insects is discussed.-Author

Duke Scholars

Author Mark D. Rausher Biology