The conceptual structure of evolutionary biology: A framework from phenotypic plasticity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.2478/eje-2018-0018Keywords:
phenotypic plasticity, conceptual framework, ecology, evolutionAbstract
In this review, I approach the role of phenotypic plasticity as a key aspect of the conceptual framework of evolutionary biology. The concept of phenotypic plasticity is related to other relevant concepts of contemporary research in evolutionary biology, such as assimilation, genetic accommodation and canalization, evolutionary robustness, evolvability, evolutionary capacitance and niche construction. Although not always adaptive, phenotypic plasticity can promote the integration of these concepts to represent some of the dynamics of evolution, which can be visualized through the use of a conceptual map. Although the use of conceptual maps is common in areas of knowledge such as psychology and education, their application in evolutionary biology can lead to a better understanding of the processes and conceptual interactions of the complex dynamics of evolution. The conceptual map I present here includes environmental variability and variation, phenotypic plasticity and natural selection as key concepts in evolutionary biology. The evolution of phenotypic plasticity is important to ecology at all levels of organization, from morphological, physiological and behavioral adaptations that influence the distribution and abundance of populations to the structuring of assemblages and communities and the flow of energy through trophic levels. Consequently, phenotypic plasticity is important for maintaining ecological processes and interactions that influence the complexity of biological diversity. In addition, because it is a typical occurrence and manifests itself through environmental variation in conditions and resources, plasticity must be taken into account in the development of management and conservation strategies at local and global levels.
References
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of species. Science,294,321–326.
Ambrose, S.H. (1998) Late Pleistocene human population bottlenecks,
volcanic winter, and differentiation of modern humans. J. Hum.
Evol.,34, 623–651.
Bohacek, J., Engmann, O., Germain, P-L., Schelbert, S. & Mansuy, I.M.
(2018) Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance: from biology
to society—Summary Latsis Symposium Aug 28–30, 2017,
Zürich, Switzerland. Environmental Epigenetics, 4, 1–6.
Bell, G. (2008) Selection: the mechanism of evolution. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Bock, W.J. (2003) Ecological aspects of evolutionary process. Zool. Sci.,
20, 279–289.
Bradshaw, A.D. (1965) Evolutionary significance of phenotypic plasticity
in plants. Adv. Genet.,13, 115–55.
Byars, S.G., Ewbank, D., Govindaraju, D.R. & Stearns, C.S. (2010) Natural
selection in a human contemporary population. P. Natl. Acad.
Sci. USA, 107 (Supl. 1), 1787–1792.
Chevin, L-M & Hoffmann, A.A. (2017) Evolution of phenotypic plasticity
in extreme environments. Philos. T. Roy. Soc. B, DOI: 10.1098/
rstb.2016.0138.
Crispo, E. (2007) The Baldwin effect and genetic assimilation: revisiting
two mechanisms of evolutionary change mediated by phenotypic
plasticity. Evolution, 61, 2469–2479.
DeLong, J.P., Forbes, V.E., Galic, N., Gilbert, J.P., Laporte, R.G., Philips,
J.S. et al. (2016) How fast is fast? Eco-evolutionary dynamics and
rates of change in populations and phenotypes. Ecol. Evol.,6,
573–581.
De Witt, T.J., Sih, A. & Wilson, D.S. (1998) Costs and limits of phenotypic
plasticity. Trends Ecol. Evol., 13, 77–81.
Ehrenreich, I.M. &Pfennig, D.W. (2015) Genetic assimilation: a review
of its potential proximate causes and evolutionary consequences.
Ann. Bot.-London, 117, 769–799.
Endler, J.A. (1986) Natural selection in the wild. Princeton: Princeton
University Press.
Feinberg, A.P. (2018) The key role of epigenetics in human disease and
mitigation. New Engl. J. Med., 378, 1323–1334.
Fischer, E.K. (2016) Flexibility and constraint in the evolution of gene
expression and behavior. Brain Behav. Evolut.,87,1–3.
Forsman, A. (2015) Rethinking phenotypic plasticity and its consequences
for individuals, populations, and species. Heredity, 115,
276–284.
Franklin, J. (1986) Aristotle on species variation. Philosophy, 61, 245–
252.
Fusco, G. & Minelli, A. (2010). Phenotypic plasticity in development
and evolution: facts and concepts. Philos. T. Roy. Soc. B, 365,
547–556.
Ghalambor, C.K., McKay, J.K., Carroll, S.P. & Reznick, D.N. (2007) Adaptive
versus non-adaptive phenotypic plasticity and the potential
for contemporary adaptation in new environments. Funct. Ecol.,
21, 394–407.
Geary, D.C. & Flinn, M.V. (2001) Evolution of human parental behavior
and the human family. Parent. Sci. Pract., 1, 5–61.
Grenier, S., Barre, P. & Litrico, I. (2016) Phenotypic plasticity and selection:
non exclusive mechanisms of adaptation. Scientifica 2016,
Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/702170.
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Hallgrímsson, B. & Hall, B.K. (2005) Variation and variability: central
concepts in biology. In: B. Hallgrímsson & B.K. Hall (Eds) Variation
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Hendry, A.P. (2016) Key questions on the role of phenotypic plasticity in
eco-evolutionary dynamics. J. Hered., 107, 25–41.
Jackrel, S.L. & Morton, T.C. (2018) Inducible phenotypic plasticity in
plants regulates aquatic ecosystem functioning. Oecologia,186,
895–906.
Kingsolver, J.G., Hoekstra, H.E., Hoekstra, J.M., Berrigan, D.,Vignieri,
S.N., Hoang, A., et al. (2001) The strength of phenotypic selection
in natural populations. Am. Nat., 157, 245–261.
Laland, K.N., Odling-Smee, J. & Feldman, M.W. (2000) Niche construction,
biological evolution, and cultural changes. Behav. Brain.
Sci., 23, 131–175.
MacColl, A.D.C. (2011)The ecological causes of evolution. Trends Ecol.
Evol., 26, 514–522.
Markov, A.V. & Ivnitisk, S.B. (2016) Evolutionary role of phenotypic plasticity.
Moscow Univ. Biol. Sci. Bull., 71, 185–192.
Martins, R.P. (2017) To what degree are philosophy and the ecological
niche concept necessary in the ecological theory and conservation?
Eur. J. Ecol., 3, 42–54.
Martins, R.P., Tidon, R. & Diniz Filho, J.A.F. (2017) The evolutionary
ecology of interactive synchronism: the illusion of the optimal
phenotype. Eur. J. Ecol., 3, 107–115.
Masel, J. & Trotter, M. (2010) Robustness and evolvability. Trends Genet.,
26, 406–414.
Masel, J. (2013) Q&A: evolutionary capacitance. BMC Biol., 11, 1–4.
Miner, B.G., Sultan, S.E., Morgan, S.G., Padilla, D.K. & Relyea, R.A.
(2005) Ecological consequences of phenotypic plasticity. Trends
Ecol. Evol., 20, 685-692.
Mithen, S. (1996) The early prehistory of human social behavior: issues
of archeological inference and cognitive evolution. Proc.
Br. Acad., 88, 145–147.
Murren, C.J., Auld, J.R., Callahan, H., Ghalambor, C.K., Handelsman,
C.A., Heskel, M.A., et al. (2015) Constraints on the evolution of
phenotypic plasticity: limits and costs of phenotype and plasticity.
Heredity, 115, 293–301.
Nicoglou, A. (2015) The evolution of phenotypic plasticity: genealogy
of a debate in genetics. Stud. Hist. Philos. Sci., 50, 67–76.
Noble, D. (2015) Evolution beyond neo-Darwinism: a new conceptual
framework. J. Exp. Biol., 218, 7–13.
Novak, J.D. & Cañas, A.J. (2008) The theory underlying concept maps
and how to construct and use them. Technical Report IHMC,
CmapTools, Received from: http://cmap.ihmc.us/docs/pdf/
TheoryUnderlyingConceptMaps.pdf
Palacio-López, K., Beckage, B., Scheiner, S. & Molofsky, J. (2015) The
ubiquity of phenotypic plasticity in plants: a synthesis. Ecol.
Evol., 5, 3389–3400.
Pfennig, D.W., Wund, M.A., Snell-Rood, E.C., Cruickshank, T., Schlichting,
C.D. & Moczek, A.P. (2010) Phenotypic plasticity’s impacts
on diversification and speciation. Trends Ecol. Evol., 25, 459–
467.
Piersma, T. & Drent, J. (2003) Phenotypic flexibility and the evolution of
organismal design. Trends Ecol.Evol.,18, 228–233.
Pigliucci, M. (2007) Do we need an extended evolutionary synthesis?
Evolution, 6, 2743–2749.
Pigliucci, M. (2008) Is evolvability evolvable? Nat. Rev. Genet., 9, 75–92.
Price, T.D., Qvarnström, A. & Irwin, D.E. (2003) The role of phenotypic
plasticity in driving genetic evolution. Philos. T. Roy. Soc. B, 270,
1433–1440.
Rampelotto, P.H. (2013) Extremophiles and extreme environments. Life
3, 482–485.
Reiners, W.A. & Lockwood, J.A. (2010) Philosophical foundations for the
practices of ecology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Romanes, G.J. (1913) Aristotle as a naturalist. Nature, 91, 201–204.
Scheiner, S.M. (1993) Genetics and evolution of phenotypic plasticity.
Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst., 24, 35–68.
Scheiner, S.M., Mitchell, R.J. & Callahan, H.S. (2000) Using path analysis
to measure natural selection. J. Evolution. Biol., 13, 423–433.
Scheiner, S.M. (2010) Toward a conceptual framework for biology. Q.
Rev. Biol., 85, 293–318.
Scheiner, S.M. (2013) The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. XII. Temporal
and spatial heterogeneity. Ecol. Evol., 3, 4596–4609.
Scheiner, S.M. (2014) The Baldwin effect: neglected and misunderstanding.
Am. Nat., 184, ii–iii.
Scheiner, S.M., Barfield, M.& Holt, R.D. (2017). The genetics of phenotypic
plasticity. XV. Genetic assimilation, the Baldwin effect, and
evolutionary rescue. Ecol. Evol., 7, 8788-8803.
Scheiner, S.M. (2018) The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. XVI. Interactions
among traits and the flow of information. Evolution, 72-11,
2292–2230.
Scoville, A.G. & Pfender, M.E. (2010) Phenotypic plasticity facilitates recurrent
rapid adaptation to introduced predators. P. Natl. Acad.
Sci. USA,107, 4260–4263.
Shirokawa, Y. & Shimada, M. (2016) Cytoplasmic inheritance of parent–
offspring cell structure in the clonal diatom Cyclotella meneghiniana.
P. Roy. Soc. B-Biol Sci., DOI: 10.1098/4spb.2016.1632.
Slatkin, M. 1987. Gene flow and geographic structure of natural populations.
Science, 236, 787–792.
Stearns, S.C. (1989) The evolutionary significance of phenotypic plasticity.
Bioscience, 39, 436–445.
Trifonov, E.V. (2011) Vocabulary of definitions of life suggests a definition.
J. Biomol. Struct. Dyn., 29, 259–266.
Valladares, F., Gianoli, E. & Gómez, J.M. (2007) Ecological limits to plant
phenotypic plasticity. New Phytol.,176, 749–763.
Wade, M.J. & Kalisz, S. (1990) The causes of natural selection. Evolution,
44, 1947–1955.
Waddington, C.H. (1942) Canalization of development and the inheritance
of acquired characters. Nature, 150, 563–565.
Waddington, C.H. (1953) Genetic assimilation of an acquired character.
Evolution, 7, 118–126.
Wagner, G.P. & Altenberg, L. (1996) Perspective: complex adaptations
and the evolution of evolvability. Evolution, 50, 967–976.
West-Eberhard, M.J. (2005) Phenotypic accommodation: adaptive innovation
due to developmental plasticity. J. Exp. Zool., Part B
304B, 610–618.
Whitman, D.W. & Agrawal, A.A. (2009) What is phenotypic plasticity
and why is it important? In: D.W. Whitman & T.N. Ananthakrishna
(Eds.), Phenotypic plasticity of insects: mechanisms and consequences
(pp. 1-63). New Hampshire: Science Publishers, Inc.
of species. Science,294,321–326.
Ambrose, S.H. (1998) Late Pleistocene human population bottlenecks,
volcanic winter, and differentiation of modern humans. J. Hum.
Evol.,34, 623–651.
Bohacek, J., Engmann, O., Germain, P-L., Schelbert, S. & Mansuy, I.M.
(2018) Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance: from biology
to society—Summary Latsis Symposium Aug 28–30, 2017,
Zürich, Switzerland. Environmental Epigenetics, 4, 1–6.
Bell, G. (2008) Selection: the mechanism of evolution. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Bock, W.J. (2003) Ecological aspects of evolutionary process. Zool. Sci.,
20, 279–289.
Bradshaw, A.D. (1965) Evolutionary significance of phenotypic plasticity
in plants. Adv. Genet.,13, 115–55.
Byars, S.G., Ewbank, D., Govindaraju, D.R. & Stearns, C.S. (2010) Natural
selection in a human contemporary population. P. Natl. Acad.
Sci. USA, 107 (Supl. 1), 1787–1792.
Chevin, L-M & Hoffmann, A.A. (2017) Evolution of phenotypic plasticity
in extreme environments. Philos. T. Roy. Soc. B, DOI: 10.1098/
rstb.2016.0138.
Crispo, E. (2007) The Baldwin effect and genetic assimilation: revisiting
two mechanisms of evolutionary change mediated by phenotypic
plasticity. Evolution, 61, 2469–2479.
DeLong, J.P., Forbes, V.E., Galic, N., Gilbert, J.P., Laporte, R.G., Philips,
J.S. et al. (2016) How fast is fast? Eco-evolutionary dynamics and
rates of change in populations and phenotypes. Ecol. Evol.,6,
573–581.
De Witt, T.J., Sih, A. & Wilson, D.S. (1998) Costs and limits of phenotypic
plasticity. Trends Ecol. Evol., 13, 77–81.
Ehrenreich, I.M. &Pfennig, D.W. (2015) Genetic assimilation: a review
of its potential proximate causes and evolutionary consequences.
Ann. Bot.-London, 117, 769–799.
Endler, J.A. (1986) Natural selection in the wild. Princeton: Princeton
University Press.
Feinberg, A.P. (2018) The key role of epigenetics in human disease and
mitigation. New Engl. J. Med., 378, 1323–1334.
Fischer, E.K. (2016) Flexibility and constraint in the evolution of gene
expression and behavior. Brain Behav. Evolut.,87,1–3.
Forsman, A. (2015) Rethinking phenotypic plasticity and its consequences
for individuals, populations, and species. Heredity, 115,
276–284.
Franklin, J. (1986) Aristotle on species variation. Philosophy, 61, 245–
252.
Fusco, G. & Minelli, A. (2010). Phenotypic plasticity in development
and evolution: facts and concepts. Philos. T. Roy. Soc. B, 365,
547–556.
Ghalambor, C.K., McKay, J.K., Carroll, S.P. & Reznick, D.N. (2007) Adaptive
versus non-adaptive phenotypic plasticity and the potential
for contemporary adaptation in new environments. Funct. Ecol.,
21, 394–407.
Geary, D.C. & Flinn, M.V. (2001) Evolution of human parental behavior
and the human family. Parent. Sci. Pract., 1, 5–61.
Grenier, S., Barre, P. & Litrico, I. (2016) Phenotypic plasticity and selection:
non exclusive mechanisms of adaptation. Scientifica 2016,
Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/702170.
Haig, D. (2007) Weismann Rules! OK? Epigenetics and the Lamarckian
temptation. Biol. Philos., 22, 415–422.
Hallgrímsson, B. & Hall, B.K. (2005) Variation and variability: central
concepts in biology. In: B. Hallgrímsson & B.K. Hall (Eds) Variation
(pp. 1–7). New York: Academic Press.
Hendry, A.P. (2016) Key questions on the role of phenotypic plasticity in
eco-evolutionary dynamics. J. Hered., 107, 25–41.
Jackrel, S.L. & Morton, T.C. (2018) Inducible phenotypic plasticity in
plants regulates aquatic ecosystem functioning. Oecologia,186,
895–906.
Kingsolver, J.G., Hoekstra, H.E., Hoekstra, J.M., Berrigan, D.,Vignieri,
S.N., Hoang, A., et al. (2001) The strength of phenotypic selection
in natural populations. Am. Nat., 157, 245–261.
Laland, K.N., Odling-Smee, J. & Feldman, M.W. (2000) Niche construction,
biological evolution, and cultural changes. Behav. Brain.
Sci., 23, 131–175.
MacColl, A.D.C. (2011)The ecological causes of evolution. Trends Ecol.
Evol., 26, 514–522.
Markov, A.V. & Ivnitisk, S.B. (2016) Evolutionary role of phenotypic plasticity.
Moscow Univ. Biol. Sci. Bull., 71, 185–192.
Martins, R.P. (2017) To what degree are philosophy and the ecological
niche concept necessary in the ecological theory and conservation?
Eur. J. Ecol., 3, 42–54.
Martins, R.P., Tidon, R. & Diniz Filho, J.A.F. (2017) The evolutionary
ecology of interactive synchronism: the illusion of the optimal
phenotype. Eur. J. Ecol., 3, 107–115.
Masel, J. & Trotter, M. (2010) Robustness and evolvability. Trends Genet.,
26, 406–414.
Masel, J. (2013) Q&A: evolutionary capacitance. BMC Biol., 11, 1–4.
Miner, B.G., Sultan, S.E., Morgan, S.G., Padilla, D.K. & Relyea, R.A.
(2005) Ecological consequences of phenotypic plasticity. Trends
Ecol. Evol., 20, 685-692.
Mithen, S. (1996) The early prehistory of human social behavior: issues
of archeological inference and cognitive evolution. Proc.
Br. Acad., 88, 145–147.
Murren, C.J., Auld, J.R., Callahan, H., Ghalambor, C.K., Handelsman,
C.A., Heskel, M.A., et al. (2015) Constraints on the evolution of
phenotypic plasticity: limits and costs of phenotype and plasticity.
Heredity, 115, 293–301.
Nicoglou, A. (2015) The evolution of phenotypic plasticity: genealogy
of a debate in genetics. Stud. Hist. Philos. Sci., 50, 67–76.
Noble, D. (2015) Evolution beyond neo-Darwinism: a new conceptual
framework. J. Exp. Biol., 218, 7–13.
Novak, J.D. & Cañas, A.J. (2008) The theory underlying concept maps
and how to construct and use them. Technical Report IHMC,
CmapTools, Received from: http://cmap.ihmc.us/docs/pdf/
TheoryUnderlyingConceptMaps.pdf
Palacio-López, K., Beckage, B., Scheiner, S. & Molofsky, J. (2015) The
ubiquity of phenotypic plasticity in plants: a synthesis. Ecol.
Evol., 5, 3389–3400.
Pfennig, D.W., Wund, M.A., Snell-Rood, E.C., Cruickshank, T., Schlichting,
C.D. & Moczek, A.P. (2010) Phenotypic plasticity’s impacts
on diversification and speciation. Trends Ecol. Evol., 25, 459–
467.
Piersma, T. & Drent, J. (2003) Phenotypic flexibility and the evolution of
organismal design. Trends Ecol.Evol.,18, 228–233.
Pigliucci, M. (2007) Do we need an extended evolutionary synthesis?
Evolution, 6, 2743–2749.
Pigliucci, M. (2008) Is evolvability evolvable? Nat. Rev. Genet., 9, 75–92.
Price, T.D., Qvarnström, A. & Irwin, D.E. (2003) The role of phenotypic
plasticity in driving genetic evolution. Philos. T. Roy. Soc. B, 270,
1433–1440.
Rampelotto, P.H. (2013) Extremophiles and extreme environments. Life
3, 482–485.
Reiners, W.A. & Lockwood, J.A. (2010) Philosophical foundations for the
practices of ecology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Romanes, G.J. (1913) Aristotle as a naturalist. Nature, 91, 201–204.
Scheiner, S.M. (1993) Genetics and evolution of phenotypic plasticity.
Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst., 24, 35–68.
Scheiner, S.M., Mitchell, R.J. & Callahan, H.S. (2000) Using path analysis
to measure natural selection. J. Evolution. Biol., 13, 423–433.
Scheiner, S.M. (2010) Toward a conceptual framework for biology. Q.
Rev. Biol., 85, 293–318.
Scheiner, S.M. (2013) The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. XII. Temporal
and spatial heterogeneity. Ecol. Evol., 3, 4596–4609.
Scheiner, S.M. (2014) The Baldwin effect: neglected and misunderstanding.
Am. Nat., 184, ii–iii.
Scheiner, S.M., Barfield, M.& Holt, R.D. (2017). The genetics of phenotypic
plasticity. XV. Genetic assimilation, the Baldwin effect, and
evolutionary rescue. Ecol. Evol., 7, 8788-8803.
Scheiner, S.M. (2018) The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. XVI. Interactions
among traits and the flow of information. Evolution, 72-11,
2292–2230.
Scoville, A.G. & Pfender, M.E. (2010) Phenotypic plasticity facilitates recurrent
rapid adaptation to introduced predators. P. Natl. Acad.
Sci. USA,107, 4260–4263.
Shirokawa, Y. & Shimada, M. (2016) Cytoplasmic inheritance of parent–
offspring cell structure in the clonal diatom Cyclotella meneghiniana.
P. Roy. Soc. B-Biol Sci., DOI: 10.1098/4spb.2016.1632.
Slatkin, M. 1987. Gene flow and geographic structure of natural populations.
Science, 236, 787–792.
Stearns, S.C. (1989) The evolutionary significance of phenotypic plasticity.
Bioscience, 39, 436–445.
Trifonov, E.V. (2011) Vocabulary of definitions of life suggests a definition.
J. Biomol. Struct. Dyn., 29, 259–266.
Valladares, F., Gianoli, E. & Gómez, J.M. (2007) Ecological limits to plant
phenotypic plasticity. New Phytol.,176, 749–763.
Wade, M.J. & Kalisz, S. (1990) The causes of natural selection. Evolution,
44, 1947–1955.
Waddington, C.H. (1942) Canalization of development and the inheritance
of acquired characters. Nature, 150, 563–565.
Waddington, C.H. (1953) Genetic assimilation of an acquired character.
Evolution, 7, 118–126.
Wagner, G.P. & Altenberg, L. (1996) Perspective: complex adaptations
and the evolution of evolvability. Evolution, 50, 967–976.
West-Eberhard, M.J. (2005) Phenotypic accommodation: adaptive innovation
due to developmental plasticity. J. Exp. Zool., Part B
304B, 610–618.
Whitman, D.W. & Agrawal, A.A. (2009) What is phenotypic plasticity
and why is it important? In: D.W. Whitman & T.N. Ananthakrishna
(Eds.), Phenotypic plasticity of insects: mechanisms and consequences
(pp. 1-63). New Hampshire: Science Publishers, Inc.
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How to Cite
Martins, R. P. (2018). The conceptual structure of evolutionary biology: A framework from phenotypic plasticity. European Journal of Ecology, 4(2), 111-123. https://doi.org/10.2478/eje-2018-0018
