Influence of the environment on the genetic architecture of traits involved in sexual selection within wild populations

Experimental studies have demonstrated that environmental variation can create genotype‐environment interactions (GEIs) in the traits involved in sexual selection. Understanding the genetic architecture of phenotype across environments will require statistical tests that can describe both changes in genetic variance and covariance across environments. This chapter outlines the theoretical framework for the processes of sexual selection in the wild, identifying key parameters in wild systems, and highlighting the potential effects of the environment. It describes the proposed approaches for the estimation of these key parameters in a quantitative genetic framework within naturally occurring pedigreed populations. The chapter provides a worked example for a range of analysis methods. It aims to provide an overview of the analytical methods that can be used to model GEIs for traits involved in sexual selection in naturally occurring pedigreed populations.