Maintenance of clonal diversity in Dipsa bifurcata (Fallén, 1810) (Diptera: Lonchopteridae). II. Diapause stabilizes clonal coexistence.

We analyze a selection model analogous to a one-locus, two-allele haploid system that can explain recurrent seasonal changes in diversity for communities with diapausing species or populations with diapausing clones. The model demonstrates the potential influence of differential diapause on the stability of species and clonal coexistence and, by extension, on the maintenance of genetic polymorphism in general. Using estimates of clonal fitness values from populations of the parthenogenetic spear-winged fly Dipsa bifurcata (Fallén, 1810) (Diptera: Lonchopteridae), the model explains the long-term stable oscillation of clonal frequencies exhibited by these populations. In general, clones or species that share the same spatial habitat can persist in stable coexistence if there are differences not only in their temporarily fluctuating fitness values but also in their dormancy patterns.