Fitness functions, genetic and non-genetic inheritance, and why ecological dynamics and evolution are inevitably linked
The Breeders and Price equations are static models of evolution. Recent work has demonstrated how components of these equations, such as selection differentials and heritabilities, can be calculated for each time-step from dynamic, evolutionarily-explicit, structured population models. These dynamic models consist of functions that describe how environmental factors impact associations of genotypes and phenotypic traits with survival, reproduction, development, and non-genetic inheritance. Because evolutionarily explicit versions of these structured models can include feedbacks and can capture all the routes via which environmental variation can impact evolution, they i) provide a more powerful predictive tool for modelling eco-evolution in natural settings than existing approaches, and ii) reveal how key evolutionary parameters incorporated into static models change with time as evolution, or environmental change, proceeds.