@article {D{\'e}barre033597, author = {Florence D{\'e}barre and Sarah P. Otto}, title = {Evolutionary dynamics of a quantitative trait in a finite asexual population}, elocation-id = {033597}, year = {2015}, doi = {10.1101/033597}, publisher = {Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory}, abstract = {In finite populations, mutation limitation and genetic drift can hinder evolutionary diversification. We consider the evolution of a quantitative trait in an asexual population whose size can vary and depends explicitly on the trait. Previous work showed that evolutionary branching is certain ({\textquotedblleft}deterministic branching{\textquotedblright}) above a threshold population size, but uncertain ({\textquotedblleft}stochastic branching{\textquotedblright}) below it. Using the stationary distribution of the population{\textquoteright}s trait variance, we identify three qualitatively different sub-domains of {\textquotedblleft}stochastic branching{\textquotedblright} and illustrate our results using a model of social evolution. We find that in very small populations, branching will almost never be observed; in intermediate populations, branching is intermittent, arising and disappearing over time; in larger populations, finally, branching is expected to occur and persist for substantial periods of time. Our study provides a clearer picture of the ecological conditions that facilitate the appearance and persistence of novel evolutionary lineages in the face of genetic drift.}, URL = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/12/03/033597}, eprint = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/12/03/033597.full.pdf}, journal = {bioRxiv} }