Season-specific dominance broadly stabilizes polymorphism under symmetric and asymmetric multivoltinism.

Seasonality causes intraannual fitness changes in multivoltine populations (defined as having multiple generations per year). While it is well-known that seasonally balanced polymorphism is established by overdominance in geometric mean fitness, an unsettled aspect of the deterministic theory is the relative contribution of various season-specific dominance mechanisms to the potential for polymorphism. In particular, the relative importance of seasonally-reversing and non-reversing schemes remains unclear. Here I analyze the parameter space for the discrete generation two-season multivoltine model and conclude that, in general, a substantial fraction of stabilizing schemes are non-reversing with the season (~25-50%). In addition, I derive the approximate equilibrium allele frequency cycle under bivoltinism, and find that the amplitude of allelic oscillation is maximized by non-reversing dominance if the selection coefficients are roughly symmetric. Lastly, I derive conditions for the intralocus evolution of dominance. These predict a long-term trend toward maximally beneficial reversal. Overall, the results counter the disproportionate emphasis placed on dominance reversal as a stabilizing mechanism and clarify that non-reversing dominance is expected to frequently characterize seasonally fluctuating alleles under both weak and strong selection, especially in their early history. I conclude that seasonally alternating selection regimes are easily able to maintain allelic variation without restrictive assumptions on either selection coefficients or dominance parameters.