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Reducing environmental bias when measuring natural selection.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Scheiner, SM; Donohue, K; Dorn, LA; Mazer, SJ; Wolfe, LM
Published in: Evolution; international journal of organic evolution
November 2002

Crucial to understanding the process of natural selection is characterizing phenotypic selection. Measures of phenotypic selection can be biased by environmental variation among individuals that causes a spurious correlation between a trait and fitness. One solution is analyzing genotypic data, rather than phenotypic data. Genotypic data, however, are difficult to gather, can be gathered from few species, and typically have low statistical power. Environmental correlations may act through traits other than through fitness itself. A path analytic framework, which includes measures of such traits, may reduce environmental bias in estimates of selection coefficients. We tested the efficacy of path analysis to reduce bias by re-analyzing three experiments where both phenotypic and genotypic data were available. All three consisted of plant species (Impatiens capensis, Arabidopsis thaliana, and Raphanus sativus) grown in experimental plots or the greenhouse. We found that selection coefficients estimated by path analysis using phenotypic data were highly correlated with those based on genotypic data with little systematic bias in estimating the strength of selection. Although not a panacea, using path analysis can substantially reduce environmental biases in estimates of selection coefficients. Such confidence in phenotypic selection estimates is critical for progress in the study of natural selection.

Duke Scholars

Published In

Evolution; international journal of organic evolution

DOI

EISSN

1558-5646

ISSN

0014-3820

Publication Date

November 2002

Volume

56

Issue

11

Start / End Page

2156 / 2167

Related Subject Headings

  • Statistics as Topic
  • Selection, Genetic
  • Raphanus
  • Phenotype
  • Models, Genetic
  • Impatiens
  • Genotype
  • Genes, Plant
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Environment
 

Citation

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ICMJE
MLA
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Scheiner, S. M., Donohue, K., Dorn, L. A., Mazer, S. J., & Wolfe, L. M. (2002). Reducing environmental bias when measuring natural selection. Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution, 56(11), 2156–2167. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0014-3820.2002.tb00140.x
Scheiner, Samuel M., Kathleen Donohue, Lisa A. Dorn, Susan J. Mazer, and Lorne M. Wolfe. “Reducing environmental bias when measuring natural selection.Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution 56, no. 11 (November 2002): 2156–67. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0014-3820.2002.tb00140.x.
Scheiner SM, Donohue K, Dorn LA, Mazer SJ, Wolfe LM. Reducing environmental bias when measuring natural selection. Evolution; international journal of organic evolution. 2002 Nov;56(11):2156–67.
Scheiner, Samuel M., et al. “Reducing environmental bias when measuring natural selection.Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution, vol. 56, no. 11, Nov. 2002, pp. 2156–67. Epmc, doi:10.1111/j.0014-3820.2002.tb00140.x.
Scheiner SM, Donohue K, Dorn LA, Mazer SJ, Wolfe LM. Reducing environmental bias when measuring natural selection. Evolution; international journal of organic evolution. 2002 Nov;56(11):2156–2167.
Journal cover image

Published In

Evolution; international journal of organic evolution

DOI

EISSN

1558-5646

ISSN

0014-3820

Publication Date

November 2002

Volume

56

Issue

11

Start / End Page

2156 / 2167

Related Subject Headings

  • Statistics as Topic
  • Selection, Genetic
  • Raphanus
  • Phenotype
  • Models, Genetic
  • Impatiens
  • Genotype
  • Genes, Plant
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Environment