D. Waxman

Selection, 1, 229-245 (2000)

Centre for the Study of Evolution, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG, Sussex UK

A detailed theoretical study of the dynamical behaviour of a quantitative trait under selection is given for an effectively infinite sexual population. The trait is controlled by a finite number of loci and the exact equation obeyed by the distribution of allelic effects in gametes is derived and investigated. When weak stabilising selection is operative, the linkage disequilibrium generating aspect of selection is explicitly identified and the interplay between this term and recombination is shown. It is further shown how the existing approximation, of calculating quantities from effective one-locus haploid loci, very naturally arises from the explicit dynamics. Numerical tests of dynamical results over 10,000 generations and equilibrium results are presented.