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Related Experiment Videos

Environmental change, phenotypic plasticity, and genetic compensation.

Gregory F Grether1

  • 1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA. ggrether@ucla.edu

The American Naturalist
|October 15, 2005
PubMed
Summary

Genetic compensation is adaptive evolution where populations genetically restore ancestral traits in new environments. This can mask genetic divergence and complicate monitoring environmental changes.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Developmental Biology
  • Ecology

Background:

  • Phenotypic traits can change when species encounter novel environments.
  • Environmental changes often reduce fitness, favoring genetic changes to restore ancestral phenotypes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • Introduce and define "genetic compensation" as a form of adaptive evolution.
  • Explore genetic compensation's implications for countergradient variation, cryptic evolution, and reproductive isolation.
  • Apply the concept to carotenoid-based sexual coloration and discuss broader contexts.

Main Methods:

  • Conceptual framework development.
  • Application of the concept to three case studies on carotenoid-based sexual coloration.
  • Discussion of broader implications using existing examples.

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Main Results:

  • Genetic compensation is proposed as adaptive evolution restoring ancestral phenotypes in novel environments.
  • It can lead to countergradient variation, where populations appear similar in the field but differ in common environments.
  • Complete compensation can result in cryptic genetic divergence, potentially causing reproductive isolation.

Conclusions:

  • Genetic compensation can explain evolutionary responses to environmental change.
  • It may lead to cryptic reproductive isolation between populations.
  • This phenomenon can complicate the detection of environmental deterioration through trait monitoring.