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Genetic correlations between morphology and antipredator behaviour in natural populations of the garter snake Thamnophis ordinoides

Nature volume 342, pages 542–543 (1989)Cite this article

Abstract

THE genetic coupling of morphology and behaviour means that the evolution of the two types of traits will not be independent: changes in behaviour will result in changes in morphology and vice versa1,2,3. This might explain nonadaptive differences in morphology through indirect selection on correlated characters of other categories4. Genetic correlations between morphology and behaviour are also the basis for some models of sympatric speciation5 and of the stability of polymorphisms6. Morphology and behaviour are often correlated in nature7–11 and a genetic basis for such couplings has been demonstrated12,13. I present here evidence that colour pattern and antipredator behaviour are genetically coupled in natural populations of the garter snake Thamnophis ordinoides. Similar phenotypic correlations between pattern and behaviour exist among species of North American snakes14, indicating that selection for particular combinations of traits may help to maintain genetic covariances and colour polymorphism in Thamnophis ordinoides.

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  1. Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 60637, USA

    Edmund D. Brodie III

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  1. Edmund D. Brodie III
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Brodie, E. Genetic correlations between morphology and antipredator behaviour in natural populations of the garter snake Thamnophis ordinoides. Nature 342, 542–543 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/342542a0

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