Skip to main content
. 2014 Mar 7;9(3):e90444. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090444

Table 10. Rate of adaptation, evolvability and orientation of genetic variance relative to selection gradients (β) for ten bird populations.

Rate of adaptation (RA) Multivariate evolvability (eβ) Average evolvability (Inline graphic) θgmax - Angle between β and gmax
Species Population Estimate Lower CI Higher CI PS(RA<1) Estimate Lower CI Higher CI Estimate Lower CI Higher CI Estimate Lower CI Higher CI
Red billed gull 1 - Kaikoura, New Zealand 0.704 0.446 1.305 83.5 0.0349 0.0208 0.0533 0.0554 0.0498 0.0644 86.26 65.20 89.97
Great reed warbler 2 - Kvismaren, Sweden 0.751 0.378 0.966 97.3 0.0241 0.0143 0.0425 0.0578 0.0436 0.0684 87.86 68.09 89.98
Barn swallow 3 - Badajoz, Spain 0.800 0.491 1.718 45.7 0.0267 0.0082 0.1094 0.0639 0.0499 0.0853 79.14 41.42 90.00
4 - Kraghede, Denmark 0.713 0.305 1.608 67.3 0.0528 0.0127 0.1241 0.0896 0.0611 0.1225 87.74 50.22 90.00
Blue tit 5 - Muro, France 0.864 0.362 1.538 71.2 0.0306 0.0144 0.0633 0.0446 0.0338 0.0567 81.07 49.49 90.00
6 - Pirio, France 0.572 0.346 0.879 98.1 0.0257 0.0111 0.0503 0.0416 0.0320 0.0505 86.89 56.73 89.95
7 - Rouviere, France 0.741 0.506 1.208 85.7 0.0380 0.0207 0.0512 0.052 0.0455 0.0627 89.22 65.15 89.97
Collared flycatcher 8 - Gotland, Sweden 0.642 0.487 0.789 100.0 0.0239 0.0149 0.0411 0.0545 0.0489 0.0602 87.84 66.01 89.99
Savannah sparrow 9 - Kent Island, Canada 0.726 0.498 0.973 98.4 0.0477 0.0255 0.0746 0.0663 0.0536 0.0829 86.18 70.17 89.98
House sparrow 10 - Lundy, UK 0.416 0.199 1.215 89.4 0.0351 0.0108 0.0928 0.0937 0.0686 0.1254 85.24 61.97 90.00

The relative rate of adaptation RA is calculated according to eq (2) and compares the rate of adaptation in the presence and the absence of genetic correlations. If the rate of adaptation is lower than 1, genetic correlations slow down adaptation. For each population the proportion of support of the posterior distribution (PS) for the hypothesis of RA<1 is also given. In bold are shown significant estimates where the posterior distribution supports the hypothesis by at least 95%. Multivariate evolvability (×100), the amount of predicted response occurring exactly in the direction of selection was calculated according to eq (4). Average evolvability (×100), the average evolvability in random direction of phenotypic space was calculated according to eq (5). The angles between selection gradients and gmax (θgmax) were calculated according to eq (6).