Evolutionary quantitative genetics

This chapter reviews fundamental principles of evolutionary quantitative genetics. First, we cover the concept of additive genetic variance, which is the component of genetic variance that is most relevant to evolutionary responses to selection. We then consider the evolutionary response to selection (i.e. how the mean of a trait changes from one generation to the next) in response to within-generation changes in the mean. We first consider univariate selection and the evolutionary response, and then consider multivariate cases. Next, we consider the dynamics of traits controlled by many loci, and models of how both the trait mean and additive genetic variances respond to selection over multiple generations. Finally, we consider more practical aspects of evolutionary quantitative genetics, including how quantities such as additive genetic variances may be estimated, how fitness is defined in the wild, and how natural selection can be measured in nature.