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Constraints on plastic responses to climate variation in red deer
Daniel H Nussey1, Tim H Clutton-Brock, Steve D Albon
1Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Kings Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK. d.h.nussey@sms.ed.ac.uk
Biology Letters
|December 7, 2006
Summary
Climate change affects life history traits, but individual plasticity varies. In red deer, only individuals with favorable early life conditions responded to climate shifts, showing that ecological factors modulate phenotypic plasticity.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Animal Behavior
Background:
- Climate influences life history traits in natural populations.
- Between-individual variation in phenotypic plasticity is rarely considered due to data limitations.
- Previous studies often correlate annual trait means with climate or assume constant individual responses.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the implications of between-individual variation in phenotypic plasticity on trait-environment relationships.
- To investigate how climate changes affect phenotypes at the individual level.
- To understand how early-life ecological conditions influence an individual's capacity to respond to climate.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of a long-term dataset from a red deer population on the Isle of Rum, Scotland.
- Examination of relationships between offspring birth weight and spring temperature within individual female lifetimes.
- Assessment of how population density experienced early in life affects phenotypic plasticity.
Main Results:
- Climate changes generated phenotypic shifts only in red deer individuals that experienced favorable ecological conditions.
- The tendency for females to respond to climate variations decreased as early-life population density increased.
- Systematic variation in individual plasticity was documented in this wild population.
Conclusions:
- Phenotypic plasticity in response to climate is not uniform across individuals.
- Early-life ecological conditions significantly modulate an individual's phenotypic plasticity.
- Understanding individual variation in plasticity is crucial for predicting trait responses to environmental change.
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