Constraints on the evolution of phenotypic plasticity: limits and costs of phenotype and plasticity
Year: 2015
Type: review
Abstract: Phenotypic plasticity is ubiquitous and generally regarded as a key mechanism for enabling organisms to survive in the face of environmental change. Because no organism is infinitely or ideally plastic, theory suggests that there must be limits (for example, the lack of ability to produce an optimal trait) to the evolution of phenotypic plasticity, or that plasticity may have inherent significant costs. Yet numerous experimental studies have not detected widespread costs. Explicitly differentiating plasticity costs from phenotype costs, we re-evaluate fundamental questions of the limits to the evolution of plasticity and of generalists vs specialists. We advocate for the view that relaxed selection and variable selection intensities are likely more important constraints to the evolution of plasticity than the costs of plasticity. Some forms of plasticity, such as learning, may be inherently costly. In addition, we examine opportunities to offset costs of phenotypes through ontogeny, amelioration of phenotypic costs across environments, and the condition-dependent hypothesis. We propose avenues of further inquiry in the limits of plasticity using new and classic methods of ecological parameterization, phylogenetics and omics in the context of answering questions on the constraints of plasticity. Given plasticity's key role in coping with environmental change, approaches spanning the spectrum from applied to basic will greatly enrich our understanding of the evolution of plasticity and resolve our understanding of limits.
Source: Heredity
DOI: 10.1038/hdy.2015.8
Authors: C J Murren, J R Auld, H Callahan, C K Ghalambor, C A Handelsman, M A Heskel, J G Kingsolver, H J Maclean, J Masel, H Maughan, D W Pfennig, R A Relyea, S Seiter, E Snell-Rood, U K Steiner, C D Schlichting
Institutions: College of Charleston, West Chester University, Columbia University, Barnard College, Colorado State University, Australian National University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Arizona, Ronin Institute, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Minnesota, University of Southern Denmark, University of Connecticut
Language: English
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $2,690
Funders: National Science Foundation, John Templeton Foundation, National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Office of International Science and Engineering, Division of Integrative Organismal Systems, Division of Environmental Biology
Awards: CAREER: The Role of Phenotypic Plasticity in Adaptive Evolution, Collaborative: Dimensions: Parallel Evolutionary Radiations in Protea and Pelargonium in the Greater Cape Floristic Region, Collaborative: RUI: Engaging undergraduates in genomic questions and environmental context: building a database of complex phenotypes for plant knockout mutants, THE CONVERSION OF NONCODING SEQUENCES INTO PROTEINS, Stochasticity in gene expression as a mechanism underlying developmental plasticity, G2561947727, Towards a general theory of evolutionary capacitance, Collaborative Research: Dimensions: Parallel Evolutionary Radiations in Protea and Pelargonium in the Greater Cape Floristic Region, G3712952848, Phenotypic Plasticity in Amphibians: A Phylogenetic Approach, G4222776041, RUI: Integrating roots into whole plant phenotypes: ecological and genetic perturbations, G4423149768, US-South Africa International Research Experience for Students - Biodiversity Hotspots: Ecological and Evolutionary Patterns and Process in the Cape Floristic Region: IRES, G5751248337, G6316399140, CSBE: A Place for Evolutionary Synthesis in North Carolina's Research Triangle, G8151880851
OpenAlex ID: W2035375254