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dc.contributor.authorClegg, Sonya M
dc.contributor.authorFrentiu, Francesca D
dc.contributor.authorKikkawa, Jiro
dc.contributor.authorTavecchia, Giacomo
dc.contributor.authorOwens, Ian PF
dc.date.accessioned2017-05-03T15:53:31Z
dc.date.available2017-05-03T15:53:31Z
dc.date.issued2008
dc.date.modified2011-05-03T04:48:37Z
dc.identifier.issn0014-3820
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/j.1558-5646.2008.00437.x
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/38583
dc.description.abstractPronounced phenotypic shifts in island populations are typically attributed to natural selection, but reconstructing heterogeneity in long-term selective regimes remains a challenge. We examined a scenario of divergence proposed for species colonizing a new environment, involving directional selection with a rapid shift to a new optimum and subsequent stabilization. We provide some of the first empirical evidence for this model of evolution using morphological data from three timescales in an island bird, Zosterops lateralis chlorocephalus. In less than four millennia since separation from its mainland counterpart, a substantial increase in body size has occurred and was probably achieved in fewer than 500 generations after colonization. Over four recent decades, morphological traits have fluctuated in size but showed no significant directional trends, suggesting maintenance of a relatively stable phenotype. Finally, estimates of contemporary selection gradients indicated generally weak directional selection. These results provide a rare description of heterogeneity in long-term natural regimes, and caution that observations of current selection may be of limited value in inferring mechanisms of past adaptation due to a lack of constancy even over short time-frames.
dc.description.peerreviewedYes
dc.description.publicationstatusYes
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherWiley-Blackwell Publishing
dc.publisher.placeUnited Kingdom
dc.relation.ispartofstudentpublicationN
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom2393
dc.relation.ispartofpageto2410
dc.relation.ispartofissue9
dc.relation.ispartofjournalEvolution
dc.relation.ispartofvolume62
dc.rights.retentionY
dc.subject.fieldofresearchEcology
dc.subject.fieldofresearchEvolutionary biology
dc.subject.fieldofresearchBiological adaptation
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode3103
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode3104
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode310403
dc.title4000 years of phenotypic change in an island bird: heterogeneity of selection over three microevolutionary timescales
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.descriptionC1 - Articles
dc.type.codeC - Journal Articles
gro.date.issued2008
gro.hasfulltextNo Full Text
gro.griffith.authorClegg, Sonya


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