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Phenotypic plasticity with instantaneous but delayed switches.

Margarete Utz¹, Jonathan M Jeschke, Volker Loeschcke

¹Department of Biology II, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Großhaderner Strasse 2, 82152 Martinsried-Planegg, Germany.

Journal of Theoretical Biology

|September 18, 2013

Summary

Reversible phenotypic plasticity enhances organism fitness in fluctuating environments, especially when environmental changes are slow. Irreversible plasticity may be favored only when environmental shifts are rapid or brief.

Keywords:

Environmental stress Environmental tolerance Irreversibility Reversibility

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary Biology
Ecology
Genetics

Background:

Phenotypic plasticity enables organisms to adapt to environmental changes.
Most studies focus on irreversible plasticity, where phenotypes are fixed during development.
Reversible plasticity allows organisms to switch between phenotypes.

Purpose of the Study:

To model and compare the fitness of non-plastic, irreversibly plastic, and reversibly plastic genotypes in fluctuating environments.
To investigate the conditions under which reversible plasticity is advantageous over irreversible plasticity.

Main Methods:

Developed two optimization models: one with multiplicative fitness effects (survival traits) and another with additive effects (fecundity traits).
Analyzed genotype fitness across different environmental fluctuation rates and stress durations.

Main Results:

Reversible plasticity is generally advantageous over irreversible plasticity, particularly with slow environmental fluctuations.
Irreversible plasticity becomes favored when environmental fluctuations are rapid or stress events are short.
Model outcomes align with observations across diverse organisms.

Conclusions:

The capacity for reversible phenotypic plasticity offers a significant fitness advantage in changing environments.
Understanding plasticity is crucial for fields like conservation and managing invasive species.