Phenotypic plasticity in evolutionary rescue experiments

Population persistence in a new and stressful environment can be influenced by the plastic phenotypic responses of individuals to this environment, and by the genetic evolution of plasticity itself. This process has recently been investigated theoretically, but testing the quantitative predictions i...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences 2013-01, Vol.368 (1610), p.20120089-20120089
Main Authors: Chevin, Luis-Miguel, Gallet, Romain, Gomulkiewicz, Richard, Holt, Robert D., Fellous, Simon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Physiological
Animals
Bacteria
Biological Evolution
Changing Environment
Competitive Behavior
Environment
Evolution Of Plasticity
Evolutionary Demography
Experimental Evolution
Extinction
Extinction, Biological
Generalism
Genetic Fitness - physiology
Life Sciences
Mutation
Phenotype
Plants
Population Density
Population Dynamics
Review
Selection, Genetic
Stress, Physiological
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Population persistence in a new and stressful environment can be influenced by the plastic phenotypic responses of individuals to this environment, and by the genetic evolution of plasticity itself. This process has recently been investigated theoretically, but testing the quantitative predictions in the wild is challenging because (i) there are usually not enough population replicates to deal with the stochasticity of the evolutionary process, (ii) environmental conditions are not controlled, and (iii) measuring selection and the inheritance of traits affecting fitness is difficult in natural populations. As an alternative, predictions from theory can be tested in the laboratory with controlled experiments. To illustrate the feasibility of this approach, we briefly review the literature on the experimental evolution of plasticity, and on evolutionary rescue in the laboratory, paying particular attention to differences and similarities between microbes and multicellular eukaryotes. We then highlight a set of questions that could be addressed using this framework, which would enable testing the robustness of theoretical predictions, and provide new insights into areas that have received little theoretical attention to date.
ISSN:0962-8436
1471-2970
DOI:10.1098/rstb.2012.0089