From Individuals to Groups and Back: The Evolutionary Implications of Group Phenotypic Composition

There is increasing interest in understanding the processes that maintain phenotypic variation in groups, populations, or communities. Recent studies have investigated how the phenotypic composition of groups or aggregations (e.g., its average phenotype or phenotypic variance) affects ecological and social processes, and how multi-level selection can drive phenotypic covariance among interacting individuals. However, we argue that these questions are rarely studied together. We present a unified framework to address this gap, and discuss how group phenotypic composition (GPC) can impact on processes ranging from individual fitness to population demography. By emphasising the breadth of topics affected, we hope to motivate more integrated empirical studies of the ecological and evolutionary implications of GPC.

• Publication year

  2015

• Venue

  Trends in Ecology & Evolution

• Publication date

  2015-09-25

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.tree.2015.07.005PMID 26411618PMCID 4594155
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• Group phenotypic composition is argued to influence outcomes ranging from individual fitness to population demography.

  Confidence 0.94

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAK (4715169a40) reviewmexicorea (qjvnbu8xg3) review
• A unified framework is proposed to study group phenotypic composition alongside the processes that maintain phenotypic variation.

  Confidence 0.96

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAK (4715169a40) reviewmexicorea (qjvnbu8xg3) review

• group phenotypic composition

  concept

  The phenotypic makeup of a group or aggregation, including measures such as mean phenotype and phenotypic variance.

  Aliases: GPC

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAK (4715169a40) reviewmexicorea (qjvnbu8xg3) review
• individual fitness

  outcome

  The survival and reproductive success of a single individual.

  Aliases: fitness

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAK (4715169a40) reviewmexicorea (qjvnbu8xg3) review
• multi-level selection

  selection process

  Selection operating at more than one biological level, such as individuals and groups, that can shape traits in interacting populations.

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAK (4715169a40) reviewmexicorea (qjvnbu8xg3) review
• phenotypic variation

  concept

  Differences in phenotype among individuals within a group, population, or community.

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAK (4715169a40) reviewmexicorea (qjvnbu8xg3) review
• population demography

  process

  The size, structure, and change over time of a population.

  Aliases: demography

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAK (4715169a40) reviewmexicorea (qjvnbu8xg3) review
• unified framework

  framework

  An integrative framework that connects group composition with evolutionary and ecological outcomes.

  Aliases: integrative framework

  박진우 (dztg5apj7m) extractionB (s683577b42) reviewAK (4715169a40) reviewmexicorea (qjvnbu8xg3) review

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