Phenotypic Integration

Phenotypic Integration is the term used to describe when multiple functionally related traits are correlated with each other.[1] Complex phenotypes require that multiple traits work together.


Origins The term morphological integration was first used by Olson and Miller to describe correlations among characters that are influenced by selection.[2] Its first expansion was in the construction of a morphological integration genetic model constructed by Lande (1980). The term Phenotypic Integration was first coined by Pigliucci and Preston, in their book, Phenotypic Integration, which helped elucidate the observed laws of correlation.

  1. ^ Pigliucci, Massimo. "Phenotypic integration: studying the ecology and evolution of complex phenotypes." Ecology Letters 6.3 (2003): 265-272.
  2. ^ Olson, Everett C., and Robert L. Miller. Morphological integration. University of Chicago Press, 1999.