Adaptation to climate change through genetic accommodation and assimilation of plastic phenotypes

Abstract

Theory suggests that evolutionary changes in phenotypic plasticity could either hinder or facilitate evolutionary rescue in a changing climate. Nevertheless, the actual role of evolving plasticity in the responses of natural populations to climate change remains unresolved. Direct observations of evolutionary change in nature are rare, making it difficult to assess the relative contributions of changes in trait means versus changes in plasticity to climate change responses. To address this gap, this review explores several proxies that can be used to understand evolving plasticity in the context of climate change, including space for time substitutions, experimental evolution and tests for genomic divergence at environmentally responsive loci. Comparisons among populations indicate a prominent role for divergence in environmentally responsive traits in local adaptation to climatic gradients. Moreover, genomic comparisons among such populations have identified pervasive divergence in the regulatory regions of environmentally responsive loci. Taken together, these lines of evidence suggest that divergence in plasticity plays a prominent role in adaptation to climatic gradients over space, indicating that evolving plasticity is also likely to play a key role in adaptive responses to climate change through time. This suggests that genetic variation in plastic responses to the environment (G × E) might be an important predictor of species' vulnerabilities to climate-driven decline or extinction. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The role of plasticity in phenotypic adaptation to rapid environmental change’.

Developmental plasticity and evolutionary explanations

“…A growing number of studies suggest that locally adapted phenotypes originated as environmentally induced variants (for reviews, see Ehrenreich & Pfennig, 2016;Kelly, 2019;Schlichting & Wund, 2014;Schneider & Meyer, 2017;West-Eberhard, 2003). This body of research on "plasticity-led" evolution could be a sign that development is finding its rightful place in evolutionary biology (Gilbert, Bosch, & Ledón-Rettig, 2015;Moczek, 2015;Moczek et al, 2011;Sultan, 2015).…”

Evolution, not transgenerational plasticity, explains the divergence of acorn ant thermal tolerance across an urban-rural temperature cline

“…However, the mechanisms underlying observed phenotypic responses to rapid environmental changes, including through anthropogenic effects are largely unknown for most organisms, as distinguishing plastic from evolved responses is often challenging (Merilä and Hendry 2014). Indeed, while the dichotomy between purely plastic and purely evolutionary responses is important and real, the two mechanisms can interact and influence each other (Ghalambor et al 2007; Diamond and Martin 2016; Kelly 2019). This more complex view posits that along with the concept that plasticity itself evolves (DeWitt and Scheiner 2004), plastic responses to novel environments may often precede and shape the speed, direction, and magnitude of evolutionary change, thereby facilitating adaptation ( i.e., plasticity-first hypothesis or genetic accommodation ; for theoretical considerations, see Price et al 2003; West-Eberhard 2003; Levis and Pfennig 2016, and for empirical examples, see Corl et al 2018; Levis et al 2018).…”

Global warming and chromosomal inversion adaptation in isolated islands:Drosophila subobscurapopulations from Madeira

“…As this explanation is not applicable to an isolated island, other hypotheses have to be explored, such as, for example, thermal plasticity (Bonamour et al . ; Kelly ). In this case, the direct influence of environmental factors (including temperature) on the development of individual phenotypes is considered a key element in the phenotypic change of populations and their persistence (Chevin et al .…”

“…Consequently, variations in the continental latitudinal clines according to global warming expectations could also be attributed to a greater or lesser extent to migration (Santos 2007). As this explanation is not applicable to an isolated island, other hypotheses have to be explored, such as, for example, thermal plasticity (Bonamour et al 2019;Kelly 2019). In this case, the direct influence of environmental factors (including temperature) on the development of individual phenotypes is considered a key element in the phenotypic change of populations and their persistence (Chevin et al 2010;Fragata et al 2016).…”