The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. XVI. Interactions among traits and the flow of information

Scheiner, Samuel M.

doi:10.1111/evo.13601

Cited by 13 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Both recent and earlier studies have shown that the high phenotypic plasticity of plants should not be universally seen as a positive attribute [43,45,110,111]. The plasticity cost might not be pronounced under normal conditions, but when plants are exposed to a highly stressful environment, the plasticity cost might outweigh the fitness gain [112,113]. The results of several studies suggest reduced performance with increasing phenotypic plasticity under stress [38,44].…”

Section: Phenotypic Plasticitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Stomatal and Leaf Morphology Response of European Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) Provenances Transferred to Contrasting Climatic Conditions

Petrík

Petek

Konôpková

et al. 2020

Forests

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Climate change-induced elevated temperatures and drought are considered to be serious threats to forest ecosystems worldwide, negatively affecting tree growth and viability. We studied nine European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) provenances located in two provenance trial plots with contrasting climates in Central Europe. Stomata play a vital role in the water balance of plants by regulating gaseous exchanges between plants and the atmosphere. Therefore, to explain the possible adaptation and acclimation of provenances to climate conditions, stomatal (stomatal density, the length of guard cells, and the potential conductance index) and leaf morphological traits (leaf size, leaf dry weight and specific leaf area) were assessed. The phenotypic plasticity index was calculated from the variability of provenances’ stomatal and leaf traits between the provenance plots. We assessed the impact of various climatic characteristics and derived indices (e.g., ecodistance) on intraspecific differences in stomatal and leaf traits. Provenances transferred to drier and warmer conditions acclimated through a decrease in stomatal density, the length of guard cells, potential conductance index, leaf size and leaf dry weight. The reduction in stomatal density and the potential conductance index was proportional to the degree of aridity difference between the climate of origin and conditions of the new site. Moreover, we found that the climate heterogeneity and latitude of the original provenance sites influence the phenotypic plasticity of provenances. Provenances from lower latitudes and less heterogeneous climates showed higher values of phenotypic plasticity. Furthermore, we observed a positive correlation between phenotypic plasticity and mortality in the arid plot but not in the more humid plot. Based on these impacts of the climate on stomatal and leaf traits of transferred provenances, we can improve the predictions of provenance reactions for future scenarios of global climate change.

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Section: Phenotypic Plasticitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Stomatal and Leaf Morphology Response of European Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) Provenances Transferred to Contrasting Climatic Conditions

Petrík

Petek

Konôpková

et al. 2020

Forests

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“…One way forward includes more developmentally realistic models of plasticity that incorporate multiple traits that interact throughout development (e.g. [237,238]). Building models forces precise articulation of hypotheses and assumptions and generates testable predictions, leading to empirical data, which can feed back to challenge and further develop the theory.…”

Section: (D) Building Underlying Theory Of Integrated Plastic Responses To Suites Of Cues Of Developmental Supportmentioning

confidence: 99%

The developmental support hypothesis: adaptive plasticity in neural development in response to cues of social support

Snell‐Rood

2020

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Across mammals, cues of developmental support, such as touching, licking or attentiveness, stimulate neural development, behavioural exploration and even overall body growth. Why should such fitness-related traits be so sensitive to developmental conditions? Here, we review what we term the ‘developmental support hypothesis’, a potential adaptive explanation of this plasticity. Neural development can be a costly process, in terms of time, energy and exposure. However, environmental variability may sometimes compromise parental care during this costly developmental period. We propose this environmental variation has led to the evolution of adaptive plasticity of neural and behavioural development in response to cues of developmental support, where neural development is stimulated in conditions that support associated costs. When parental care is compromised, offspring grow less and adopt a more resilient and stress-responsive strategy, improving their chances of survival in difficult conditions, similar to existing ideas on the adaptive value of early-life programming of stress. The developmental support hypothesis suggests new research directions, such as testing the adaptive value of reduced neural growth and metabolism in stressful conditions, and expanding the range of potential cues animals may attend to as indicators of developmental support. Considering evolutionary and ecologically appropriate cues of social support also has implications for promoting healthy neural development in humans. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Life history and learning: how childhood, caregiving and old age shape cognition and culture in humans and other animals’.

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“…Heritable variation for both ADH activity and ADH plasticity were high, with narrow‐sense heritabilities

h^{2} = 0 . 557

and

h^{2} = 0 . 776

, respectively. From these results, Wang and Althoff () concluded that ADH plasticity is an adaptive trait, which is an important finding because adaptive trait plasticity is uncommon (Scheiner ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 95%

Selection on structural allelic variation biases plasticity estimates

et al. 2019

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Wang and Althoff (2019) explored the capacity of Drosophila melanogaster to exhibit adaptive plasticity in a novel environment. In a full‐sib, half‐sib design, they scored the activity of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and plastic responses, measured as changes in ADH activity across ethanol concentrations in the range of 0–10% (natural variation) and 16% (the novel environment). ADH activity increased with alcohol concentration, and there was a positive association between larval viability and ADH activity in the novel environment. They also reported that families exhibiting greater plasticity had higher larval survival in the novel environment, concluding that ADH plasticity is adaptive. However, the four authors now concur that, since the study estimated plasticity from phenotypic differences across environments using full‐sib families, it is not possible to disentangle the contributions of allele frequency changes at the Adh locus from regulatory control at loci known to influence ADH activity. Selective changes in allele frequencies may thus conflate estimates of plasticity; any type of “plasticity” (adaptive, neutral, or maladaptive) could be inferred depending on allele frequencies. The problem of scoring sib‐groups after selection should be considered in any plasticity study that cannot use replicated genotypes. Researchers should monitor changes in allele frequencies as one mechanism to deal with this issue.

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The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. XVI. Interactions among traits and the flow of information

Cited by 13 publications

References 55 publications

Stomatal and Leaf Morphology Response of European Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) Provenances Transferred to Contrasting Climatic Conditions

Stomatal and Leaf Morphology Response of European Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) Provenances Transferred to Contrasting Climatic Conditions

The developmental support hypothesis: adaptive plasticity in neural development in response to cues of social support

Selection on structural allelic variation biases plasticity estimates

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