Citation

Kazancıoğlu E, Klug H, Alonzo SH. Evolution 2012; 66(7): 2056-2064.

Affiliation

Animal Ecology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala 752 36, Sweden E-mail: erem.kazancioglu@ebc.uu.se Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37403 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8106.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Society for the Study of Evolution, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1558-5646.2012.01585.x

PMID

22759284

Abstract

In many traits involved in social interactions, such as courtship and aggression, the phenotype is an outcome of interactions between individuals. Such traits whose expression in an individual is partly determined by the phenotype of its social partner are called "interacting phenotypes." Quantitative genetic models suggested that interacting phenotypes can evolve much faster than nonsocial traits. Current models, however, consider the interaction between phenotypes of social partners as a fixed phenotypic response rule, represented by an interaction coefficient (ψ). Here, we extend existing theoretical models and incorporate the interaction coefficient as a trait that can evolve. We find that the evolution of the interaction coefficient can change qualitatively the predictions about the rate and direction of evolution of interacting phenotypes. We argue that it is crucial to determine whether and how the phenotypic response of an individual to its social partner can evolve to make accurate predictions about the evolution of traits involved in social interactions.

Language: en