Polygenic variation in sexual investment across an ephemerality gradient in Daphnia pulex

Abstract Species across the tree of life can switch between asexual and sexual reproduction. In facultatively sexual species, the ability to switch between reproductive modes is often environmentally dependent and subject to local adaptation. However, the ecological and evolutionary factors that influence the maintenance and turnover of polymorphism associated with facultative sex remain unclear. To address this basic question, we studied the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of polymorphism in reproductive strategy in a metapopulation of the model facultative sexual, Daphnia pulex, located in the southern United Kingdom. We found that patterns of clonal diversity, but not genetic diversity varied with ephemerality. Reconstruction of a multi-year pedigree demonstrated the co-existence of clones that were found to differ in their investment into male production. Mapping of quantitative variation in male production using lab-generated and field-collected individuals identified multiple putative QTL underlying this trait, and we identified a plausible candidate gene. The evolutionary history of these QTL suggests that they are relatively young, and male limitation in this system is a rapidly evolving trait. Our work highlights the dynamic nature of the genetic structure and composition of facultative sex across space and time and suggests that quantitative genetic variation in reproductive strategy can undergo rapid evolutionary turnover.