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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1969 Jan;62(1):75–80. doi: 10.1073/pnas.62.1.75

ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL SELECTION FOR TWO BEHAVIORAL TRAITS IN DROSOPHILA PSEUDOOBSCURA*

Theodosius Dobzhansky 1, Boris Spassky 1
PMCID: PMC285957  PMID: 5253666

Abstract

In an attempt to elucidate the genetic architecture of two behavioral traits, populations of Drosophila pseudoobscura were selected for positive and for negative phototaxis and geotaxis.

The selected populations diverged rapidly in their behavior (Figs. 1 and 2). The selection was relaxed after 20 generations in the phototactic, and after 30 generations in the geotactic populations. The relaxation resulted in convergence almost as rapid as was the divergence under selection. The average phototactic and geotactic neutrality of natural populations is an adaptive trait protected by genetic homeostasis. This does not preclude rapid responses to artificial, and presumably to natural, selection.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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