Migration (Gene Flow) / Selection equilibrium


Consider island adjacent to mainland, with unidirectional migration from mainland to island.
   Mainland uniformly dark, island uniformly light
   AA
phenotypes are light, BB dark, and AB intermediate

  
Phenotypes subject to selection according to degree of crypsis
 
Fitness of AA, AB, & BB genotypes differ between environments,
      so allele frequency q = f(B) differs between mainland (qm) & island (qi)
      B has high fitness on mainland, low fitness on island
     
For this model, A semi-dominant to B:
            B
allele additive
: WAB = (1 - t)    WBB = (1 - 2t)
           
[Note: use t so as not to confuse additive vs recessive s]
 
 
WAA WAB WBB qinit
Island 1 1 - t 1 - 2t q 0
Mainland 0 0 1 q 1

Migration rate m = fraction of island population newly arrived from mainland
                        [m equivalent to fraction of new alleles arriving from mainland]

Migration / Selection equilibrium resemble Mutation / Selection equilibrium mathematically, except
                Migration introduces alleles two at once  (BB diploid migrants vs AB gametic mutations)
                Migration rates m >> Mutation rates u

         
Calculate equilibrium frequency where
qi = f(B) = 0 on island:
     Change in f(B) from migrationqi = m(qm - qi)
     Change in f(B) from selectionqi  = -tqi(1 - qi)) / (1 - 2tqi)
                                                             -tqi(1 - qi)                          [if tqi << 1]
     Then, combined change          qi = m(qm - qi) - tqi(1 - qi)
                                                            = mqm - mqi - tqi + tqi2)
                                                            = tqi2 - (m + t)(qi) + mqm

For qi = 0   solve as quadratic equation for several special cases:
 
       if    t:      qi    qm              migration behaves like mutation
                                                                 [except: alleles introduced at higher rate, as diploids]
 
       if m >> t:      qi    qm                 mainland B allele 'swamps' island A allele

       if m << t:      qi    (m / t)(qm)     some equilibrium achieved, iff m constant

       Intermediate cases can be simulated in GSM worksheet

Mutation-Selection equilibrium

Approach to Mutation-Selection Equilibrium where  qi = 0
for t = 0.1 & m = 0.01 ~ 0.250

For m = 0.250, qI rapidly approaches gM: migration from the Mainland swamps locally favored allele, prevents local adaptation.

For m = 0.01 or 0.05, qI reaches equilibrium at (m / t) as predicted: deleterious mainland allele maintained at relatively high frequency.

For m = t = 0.1,
the approximate solution m = 0.1 underestimates an equilibrium qM.
The exact solution with m = 0.1* is substantially higher, but takes much longer to achieve.


Text material © 2024 by Steven M. Carr