Phenotypic Plasticity: From Microevolution to Macroevolution (original) (raw)
Related papers
The evolution of phenotypic plasticity: genealogy of a debate in genetics
2015
The paper describes the context and the origin of a particular debate that concerns the evolution of phenotypic plasticity. In 1965, British biologist A. D. Bradshaw proposed a widely cited model intended to explain the evolution of norms of reaction, based on his studies of plant populations. Bradshaw’s model went beyond the notion of the “adaptive norm of reaction” discussed before him by Dobzhansky and Schmalhausen by suggesting that “plasticity” – the ability of a phenotype to be modified by the environment – should be genetically determined. To prove Bradshaw’s hypothesis, it became necessary for some authors to identify the pressures exerted by natural selection on phenotypic plasticity in particular traits, and thus to model its evolution. In this paper, I contrast two different views, based on quantitative genetic models, proposed in the mid-1980s: Russell Lande and Sara Via’s conception of phenotypic plasticity, which assumes that the evolution of plasticity is linked to the evolution of the plastic trait itself, and Samuel Scheiner and Richard Lyman’s view, which assumes that the evolution of plasticity is independent from the evolution of the trait. I show how the origin of this specific debate, and different assumptions about the evolution of phenotypic plasticity, depended on Bradshaw’s definition of plasticity and the context of quantitative genetics.
Phenotypic plasticity in development and evolution: facts and concepts
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2010
This theme issue pursues an exploration of the potential of taking into account the environmental sensitivity of development to explaining the evolution of metazoan life cycles, with special focus on complex life cycles and the role of developmental plasticity. The evolution of switches between alternative phenotypes as a response to different environmental cues and the evolution of the control of the temporal expression of alternative phenotypes within an organism's life cycle are here treated together as different dimensions of the complex relationships between genotype and phenotype, fostering the emergence of a more general and comprehensive picture of phenotypic evolution through a quite diverse sample of case studies. This introductory article reviews fundamental facts and concepts about phenotypic plasticity, adopting the most authoritative terminology in use in the current literature. The main topics are types and components of phenotypic variation, the evolution of orga...
2008
Mainstream evolutionary biology lacks a mature theory of phenotype. Following from the Modern Synthesis, researchers tend to assume an unrealistically simple mapping of genotype to phenotype, or else trust that the complexities of developmental architecture can be adequately captured by measuring trait variances and covariances. In contrast, the growing field of evolutionary developmental biology (evodevo) explicitly examines the relationship between developmental architecture and evolutionary change, but lacks a rigorous quantitative and predictive framework. In my dissertation, I strive to integrate quantitative genetics and evo-devo, using both theoretical and empirical studies of plasticity. My first paper explores the effect of realistic development on the evolution of phenotypic plasticity when there is migration between two discrete environments. The model I use reveals that nonadditive developmental interactions can constrain the evolution of phenotypic plasticity in the presence of stabilizing selection. In my second paper, I examine the manner in which the genetically controlled responsiveness of traits to each other is shaped by selection and can in turn shape the phenotypic response to selection. Here, results indicate that developmental entanglement through plasticity can facilitate rapid multivariate adaptation in response to a novel selective pressure. In my final paper, I examine patterns of gene expression underlying ancestral plasticity and adaptive loss of melanin in Daphnia melanica. My results indicate that the developmental mechanism underlying ancestral plasticity has been co-opted to facilitate rapid adaptation to an introduced predator.
The role of phenotypic plasticity in driving genetic
2003
Models of population divergence and speciation are often based on the assumption that differences between populations are due to genetic factors, and that phenotypic change is due to natural selection. It is equally plausible that some of the differences among populations are due to phenotypic plasticity. We use the metaphor of the adaptive landscape to review the role of phenotypic
The conceptual structure of evolutionary biology: A framework from phenotypic plasticity
European Journal of Ecology
In this review, I approach the role of phenotypic plasticity as a key aspect of the conceptual framework of evolutionary biology. The concept of phenotypic plasticity is related to other relevant concepts of contemporary research in evolutionary biology, such as assimilation, genetic accommodation and canalization, evolutionary robustness, evolvability, evolutionary capacitance and niche construction. Although not always adaptive, phenotypic plasticity can promote the integration of these concepts to represent some of the dynamics of evolution, which can be visualized through the use of a conceptual map. Although the use of conceptual maps is common in areas of knowledge such as psychology and education, their application in evolutionary biology can lead to a better understanding of the processes and conceptual interactions of the complex dynamics of evolution. The conceptual map I present here includes environmental variability and variation, phenotypic plasticity and natural selec...
Studying phenotypic plasticity: the advantages of a broad approach
2012
Phenotypic plasticity is traditionally defined as the capacity of a given genotype to render alternative phenotypes under different environmental conditions. Some studies focus on the individual genotype to study 'true'phenotypic plasticity, regardless of the level of ecological organization involved in each particular study. We argue that, depending on the research question and the scale, there are advantages of looking beyond the genetic identity of each individual phenotype when addressing phenotypic plasticity.