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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 12, 2025

Visualizing Visual Adaptation

Visualizing Visual Adaptation

Published on: April 24, 2017

Rapid local adaptation linked with phenotypic plasticity.

Syuan-Jyun Sun¹, Andrew M Catherall¹, Sonia Pascoal¹

¹Department of Zoology University of Cambridge Cambridge CB2 3EJ United Kingdom.

Evolution Letters

|August 11, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Plasticity may drive rapid evolution in burying beetles. Phenotypic plasticity facilitated adaptive differences in fecundity between closely related populations, enabling local adaptation.

Keywords:

Burying beetles Nicrophorus vespilloides interspecific competition local adaptation niche expansion phenotypic plasticity plasticity‐led evolution

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary Biology
Ecology
Genetics

Background:

Phenotypic plasticity is hypothesized to facilitate rapid adaptation.
Its role in microevolutionary divergence between populations remains debated.
Understanding plasticity's role is crucial for explaining complex adaptations.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if phenotypic plasticity can drive rapid adaptive divergence.
To examine the role of plasticity in generating fecundity differences in burying beetles.
To explore the genetic basis of these adaptive differences.

Main Methods:

Comparative analysis of wild burying beetle populations (Nicrophorus vespilloides).
Assessment of fecundity traits (clutch size, egg size) in relation to carrion size.
Identification of genetic loci associated with reproductive divergence.

Main Results:

Populations show divergent adaptation to different carrion sizes.
Adaptive differences in clutch and egg size are linked to genetic divergence in oogenesis loci.
Key differences observed in the plasticity of clutch size (genetic accommodation) and offspring survival.

Conclusions:

Plasticity, specifically genetic accommodation, can facilitate rapid local adaptation.
This process appears effective on fine-grained spatial scales.
Plasticity may be a significant driver of evolutionary divergence.