Trade-offs drive resource specialization and the gradual establishment of ecotypes

Table 3 The population needs to be of a certain size in order for specialists to evolve

logλ	σ ₁	σ ₂	〈n_t〉^a	〈n_t〉^b	〈n_t〉^c
-2	10	1	8.90±0.31	7.25±0.64	1.00±0.00
-3	0.1	0.01	3.25±1.16	2.75±0.64	1.60±0.50
-3	1	0.1	5.25±1.21	4.25±0.72	1.60±0.50
-3	10	1	8.90±0.31	8.85±0.37	1.40±0.50

A population size of N =100 is too small to accommodate different ecotypes, while 1000 is large enough that selection can distinguish between different phenotypes and negative frequency-dependent selection is able to sustain diversity. Increasing N beyond 1000 has only a small positive effect on the degree of specialization. μ=0.05. ^aN =5000. ^bN =1000. ^cN =100.

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