To explore potential anthropogenic impacts on phenotypic selection, the process by which natural selection favors fitness associated with certain phenotypes, researchers analyzed literature from 1999 to 2018 on 37 different species, and found that populations exposed to anthropogenic selection pressures, such as habitat degradation, exhibited no stronger phenotypic selection than control populations, with the potential exception of cod and pike fisheries, which showed strong harvest selection; some human disturbances may reduce selection by increasing fitness and decreasing opportunities for selection, according to the authors.
Article #18-06013: "Human influences on the strength of phenotypic selection," by Vincent Fugère and Andrew P. Hendry.
MEDIA CONTACT: Vincent Fugère, McGill University, Montreal, CANADA; tel: 514-581-4651; e-mail: vincent.fugere@mail.mcgill.ca
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences