Ecology

1. Ecology Kiela P. Reeves 1/22/04 Dr. Allison Welch

2. Phenotypic Plasticity: Beyond the Facts of Nature

3. Meet Phenotypic Plasticity • The process by which plants and animals have evolved inducible defenses in response to predation pressures and environmental change causes for many defenses that have resulted in a wide variety of responses, interactions, and adaptation that increase survivorship of a species.

4. What is Phenotypic Plasticity? • Phenotypic plasticity can be defined as the property of a genotype to produce different phenotypes when exposed to different environments. • Therefore plasticity can be described as the reaction of a normal genotype, which the function defined in the term of its environment or phenotype is changed by environmental input and displaced in its phenotypic output.

5. Genetic vs. Environmental With phenotypic plasticity being another name for a response to environmental conditions, the expression for genetic change is under environmental control; but the ability of an organism to change phenotypic plasticity is controlled by its genetics. Genes provide a potential for plasticity and the environment determines what phenotype is needed.

6. What does research show? • Research addresses that the adaptive value, quantitative genetic basis, and mechanistic basis of an organism plastic (physical) response. • Genetic studies have identified genetic constraints on evolution by the plastic responses to exposed environmental treatments; thus making a genetic population displacement in genetic traits and the outcome of physical characteristics.

8. So its Phenotypic Plasticity: What's next? • The hypothesis that phenotypic plasticity is an adaptive trait is true; plasticity are adaptive traits that will increase the survival probabilities of those organisms that express it; making this natural selection acting to maintain phenotypic plasticity. • One explanation of plasticity rests on the demands of an ever-changing environment.