Experimental Evolution Across Different Thermal Regimes Yields Genetic Divergence in Recombination Fraction But No Divergence in Temperature-Associated Plastic Recombination

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.1101/238931 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Kathryn P. Kohl ◽

Nadia D. Singh

Keyword(s):

Phenotypic Plasticity ◽

Experimental Evolution ◽

Recombination Rate ◽

Population Level ◽

Recombination Fraction ◽

Spatial And Temporal Variation ◽

Variable Environment ◽

Variable Environments ◽

Response To Temperature

AbstractPhenotypic plasticity is pervasive in nature. One mechanism underlying the evolution and maintenance of such plasticity is environmental heterogeneity. Indeed, theory indicates that both spatial and temporal variation in the environment should favor the evolution of phenotypic plasticity under a variety of conditions. Cyclical environmental conditions have also been shown to yield evolved increases in recombination frequency. Here were use a panel of replicated experimental evolution populations of D. melanogaster to test whether variable environments favor enhanced plasticity in recombination rate and/or increased recombination rate in response to temperature. In contrast to expectation, we find no evidence for either enhanced plasticity in recombination or increased rates of recombination in the variable environment lines. Our data confirm a role of temperature in mediating recombination fraction in D. melanogaster, and indicate that recombination is genetically and plastically depressed under lower temperatures. Our data further suggest that the genetic architectures underlying plastic recombination and population-level variation in recombination rate are likely to be distinct.

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The role of phenotypic plasticity in the establishment of range margins

10.1101/2021.10.04.463099 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Martin Eriksson ◽

Marina Rafajlović

Keyword(s):

Phenotypic Plasticity ◽

Genetic Variance ◽

Natural Populations ◽

Analytical Approximations ◽

Variable Environments ◽

Key Factor ◽

Modelling Studies ◽

Adaptive Phenotypic Plasticity ◽

The Cost

It has been argued that adaptive phenotypic plasticity may facilitate range expansions over spatially and temporally variable environments. However, plasticity may induce fitness costs. This may hinder the evolution of plasticity. Earlier modelling studies examined the role of plasticity during range expansions of populations with fixed genetic variance. However, genetic variance evolves in natural populations. This may critically alter model outcomes. We ask: How does the capacity for plasticity in populations with evolving genetic variance alter range margins that populations without the capacity for plasticity are expected to attain? We answered this question using computer simulations and analytical approximations. We found a critical plasticity cost above which the capacity for plasticity has no impact on the expected range of the population. Below the critical cost, by contrast, plasticity facilitates range expansion, extending the range in comparison to that expected for populations without plasticity. We further found that populations may evolve plasticity to buffer temporal environmental fluctuations, but only when the plasticity cost is below the critical cost. Thus, the cost of plasticity is a key factor involved in range expansions of populations with the potential to express plastic response in the adaptive trait.

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The role of phenotypic plasticity and epigenetics in experimental evolution with phytoplankton

Perspectives in Phycology ◽

10.1127/pip/2015/0036 ◽

2015 ◽

Keyword(s):

Phenotypic Plasticity ◽

Experimental Evolution

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The role of phenotypic plasticity and epigenetics in experimental evolution with phytoplankton

Perspectives in Phycology ◽

10.1127/pip/2016/0036 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 29-36

Author(s):

Katrin Schmidt ◽

Cock van Oosterhout ◽

Sinéad Collins ◽

Thomas Mock

Keyword(s):

Phenotypic Plasticity ◽

Experimental Evolution

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Step-wise evolution of temperature-mediated phenotypic plasticity in eyespot size across nymphalid butterflies

10.1101/378836 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Shivam Bhardwaj ◽

Lim Si-Hui Jolander ◽

Markus R. Wenk ◽

Jeffrey C. Oliver ◽

H. Frederik Nijhout ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Phenotypic Plasticity ◽

Butterfly Species ◽

Molecular Response ◽

Bicyclus Anynana ◽

Variable Environments ◽

Dry Seasons ◽

Response To Temperature ◽

Molecular Components ◽

Work Supports ◽

Wet And Dry Seasons

AbstractThere are two disparate views regarding phenotypic plasticity. One regards plasticity as a derived adaptation to help organisms survive in variable environments1, 2 while the other views plasticity as the outcome of flexible, non-canalized, developmental processes, ancestrally present in most organisms, that helps them colonize or adapt to novel environments3–5 e.g., a pre-adaptation. Both views of plasticity currently lack a rigorous, mechanistic examination of ancestral and derived states and direction of change2. Here we show that the origin of phenotypic plasticity in eyespot size in response to environmental temperature observed in Bicyclus anynana butterflies is a derived adaptation of this lineage. Eyespot size is regulated by temperature-mediated changes in levels of a steroid hormone, 20E, that affects proliferation of eyespot central cells expressing the 20E receptor (EcR)6, 7. By estimating the origin of the known physiological and molecular components of eyespot size plasticity in a comparative framework, we showed that 20E titer plasticity in response to temperature is a pre-adaptation shared by all butterfly species examined, whereas the origin of expression of EcR in eyespot centers, and the origin of eyespot sensitivity to the hormone-receptor complex are both derived traits found only in a subset of species with eyespots. The presence of all three molecular components required to produce a plastic response is only observed in B. anynana. This gradual, step-wise, physiological/molecular response to temperature is a likely adaptation to temperature variation experienced across wet and dry seasons in the habitat of this species. This work supports, thus, the first view of plasticity as a derived adaptation.

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Male sexual signal predicts phenotypic plasticity in offspring: implications for the evolution of plasticity and local adaptation

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2018.0179 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 374 (1768) ◽

pp. 20180179 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Patrick W. Kelly ◽

David W. Pfennig ◽

Sofia de la Serna Buzón ◽

Karin S. Pfennig

Keyword(s):

Sexual Selection ◽

Phenotypic Plasticity ◽

Local Adaptation ◽

Experimental System ◽

Female Mate Choice ◽

Adaptive Plasticity ◽

Variable Environment ◽

Sexual Signal ◽

Spadefoot Toads ◽

Variable Environments

In a rapidly changing world, understanding the processes that influence a population's ability to respond to natural selection is critical for identifying how to preserve biodiversity. Two such processes are phenotypic plasticity and sexual selection. Whereas plasticity can facilitate local adaptation, sexual selection potentially impedes local adaptation, especially in rapidly changing or variable environments. Here we hypothesize that, when females preferentially choose males that sire plastic offspring, sexual selection can actually facilitate local adaptation to variable or novel environments by promoting the evolution of adaptive plasticity. We tested this hypothesis by evaluating whether male sexual signals could indicate plasticity in their offspring and, concomitantly, their offspring's ability to produce locally adapted phenotypes. Using spadefoot toads (Spea multiplicata) as our experimental system, we show that a male sexual signal predicts plasticity in his offspring's resource-use morphology. Specifically, faster-calling males (which are preferred by females) produce more plastic offspring; such plasticity, in turn, enables these males' offspring to respond adaptively to the spadefoots’ highly variable environment. The association between a preferred male signal and adaptive plasticity in his offspring suggests that female mate choice can favour the evolution and maintenance of phenotypic plasticity and thereby foster adaptation to a variable environment.This article is part of the theme issue ‘The role of plasticity in phenotypic adaptation to rapid environmental change’.

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1947 The role of phenotypic plasticity as an agent for adaptation to variable environments is proposed

Conceptual Breakthroughs in Evolutionary Ecology ◽

10.1016/b978-0-12-816013-8.00011-9 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 27-28

Author(s):

Laurence Mueller

Keyword(s):

Phenotypic Plasticity ◽

Variable Environments

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Maintenance of genetic variation in phenotypic plasticity: the role of environmental variation

Genetics Research ◽

10.1017/s0016672300004729 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 76 (3) ◽

pp. 295-304 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

GERDIEN de JONG ◽

SERGEY GAVRILETS

Keyword(s):

Genetic Variation ◽

Phenotypic Plasticity ◽

Temporal Variation ◽

Genetic Variance ◽

Reaction Norm ◽

Reaction Norms ◽

Stabilizing Selection ◽

Variable Environment ◽

Linear Reaction

We study genetic variation in phenotypic plasticity maintained by a balance between mutation and weak stabilizing selection. We consider linear reaction norms allowing for spatial and/or temporal variation in the environments of development and selection. We show that the overall genetic variation maintained does not depend on whether the trait is plastic or not. The genetic variances in height and slope of a linear reaction norm, and their covariance, are predicted to decrease with the variation in the environment. Non-pleiotropic loci influencing either height or slope are expected to decrease the genetic variance in slope relative to that in height. Decrease in the ratio of genetic variance in slope to genetic variance in height with increasing variation in the environment presents a test for the presence of loci that only influence the slope, and not the height. We use data on Drosophila to test the theory. In seven of eight pair-wise comparisons genetic variation in reaction norm is higher in a less variable environment than in a more variable environment, which is in accord with the model's predictions.

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The role of hormones

10.1093/oso/9780198797500.003.0004 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

H. Frederik Nijhout ◽

Emily Laub

Keyword(s):

Phenotypic Plasticity ◽

Social Behavior ◽

Parental Care ◽

Juvenile Hormone ◽

Reproductive Behavior ◽

Hormonal Control ◽

Plastic Trait

Many behaviors of insects are stimulated, modified, or modulated by hormones. The principal hormones involved are the same as the ones that control moulting, metamorphosis, and other aspects of development, principally ecdysone and juvenile hormone. In addition, a small handful of neurosecretory hormones are involved in the control of specific behaviors. Because behavior is a plastic trait, this chapter begins by outlining the biology and hormonal control of phenotypic plasticity in insects, and how the hormonal control of behavior fits in with other aspects of the control of phenotypic plasticity. The rest of the chapter is organized around the diversity of behaviors that are known to be controlled by or affected by hormones. These include eclosion and moulting behavior, the synthesis and release of pheromones, migration, parental care, dominance, reproductive behavior, and social behavior.

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The role of habitat configuration in shaping animal population processes: a framework to generate quantitative predictions

Oecologia ◽

10.1007/s00442-021-04967-y ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Peng He ◽

Pierre-Olivier Montiglio ◽

Marius Somveille ◽

Mauricio Cantor ◽

Damien R. Farine

Keyword(s):

Population Level ◽

R Package ◽

Habitat Configuration ◽

Modelling Framework ◽

Alternative Habitat ◽

Animal Populations ◽

Research Questions ◽

Habitat Networks ◽

Animal Habitat

AbstractBy shaping where individuals move, habitat configuration can fundamentally structure animal populations. Yet, we currently lack a framework for generating quantitative predictions about the role of habitat configuration in modulating population outcomes. To address this gap, we propose a modelling framework inspired by studies using networks to characterize habitat connectivity. We first define animal habitat networks, explain how they can integrate information about the different configurational features of animal habitats, and highlight the need for a bottom–up generative model that can depict realistic variations in habitat potential connectivity. Second, we describe a model for simulating animal habitat networks (available in the R package AnimalHabitatNetwork), and demonstrate its ability to generate alternative habitat configurations based on empirical data, which forms the basis for exploring the consequences of alternative habitat structures. Finally, we lay out three key research questions and demonstrate how our framework can address them. By simulating the spread of a pathogen within a population, we show how transmission properties can be impacted by both local potential connectivity and landscape-level characteristics of habitats. Our study highlights the importance of considering the underlying habitat configuration in studies linking social structure with population-level outcomes.

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