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Updated: May 10, 2026
04:52
Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations
Published on: February 3, 2023
Baldwin effect under multipeaked fitness landscapes: phenotypic fluctuation accelerates evolutionary rate
Nen Saito1, Shuji Ishihara, Kunihiko Kaneko
1Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan. saito@complex.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Summary
Phenotypic fluctuations accelerate evolutionary rate but decrease average fitness, potentially leading to error catastrophe. This challenges the idea that plasticity always aids adaptive evolution.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Quantitative genetics
- Theoretical ecology
Background:
- The Baldwin effect proposes that learned behaviors influence evolutionary trajectories.
- The 'Baldwin expediting effect' suggests phenotypic plasticity accelerates evolution, a claim debated in scientific literature.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the evolutionary population dynamics under a multipeaked fitness landscape.
- To evaluate the validity of the Baldwin expediting effect using a quantitative genetic model.
- To derive analytical expressions for evolutionary rate and average population fitness.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a quantitative genetic model.
- Analyzed population dynamics on a multipeaked fitness landscape.
- Derived analytical expressions for key evolutionary parameters.
Main Results:
- Phenotypic fluctuation consistently accelerates evolutionary rate on multipeaked landscapes.
- Phenotypic fluctuation leads to a decrease in average population fitness.
- Phenotypic fluctuation can accelerate error catastrophe, hindering adaptation to high-fitness peaks.
Conclusions:
- Phenotypic plasticity's role in adaptive evolution is complex and context-dependent.
- The trade-off between evolutionary rate and average fitness is significant.
- The findings challenge the universal applicability of the Baldwin expediting effect.
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