Adaptive Phenotypic Plasticity and the Successful Colonization of a Novel Environment

Abstract

Behavior and other forms of phenotypic plasticity potentially enable individuals to deal with novel situations. This implies that establishment of a population in a new environment is aided by plastic responses, as first suggested by Baldwin (1896). In the early 1980s, a small population of dark-eyed juncos from a temperate, montane environment became established in a Mediterranean climate in coastal San Diego. The breeding season of coastal juncos is more than twice as long as that of the ancestral population, and they fledge approximately twice as many young. We investigated the adaptive significance of the longer breeding season and its consequences for population persistence. Within the coastal population, individuals with longer breeding seasons have higher offspring production and recruitment, with no measured detrimental effects such as higher mortality or lower reproductive success the following year. Population size has remained approximately constant during the 6 years of study (1998-2003). The increase in reproductive effort in the coastal population contributes substantially to the persistence of this population because there is no evidence of density-dependent recruitment, which would otherwise negate the effects of increased fledgling production. These results provide the first quantitative support of Baldwin's proposition that plasticity can be crucial for population persistence during the early stages of colonization.

Rapid evolutionary change in a sexual signal: genetic control of the mutation ‘flatwing’ that renders male field crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus) mute

“…Ongoing experiments are investigating whether pre-existing plasticity, in male or female behavior, might have facilitated the spread of the flatwing mutation. This type of behavioral compensation may be an important mechanism for invading populations when rapid evolutionary changes in sexual signaling, or other types of traits, occur soon after colonization (Yeh and Price, 2004).…”

Evolution of adaptive phenotypic traits without positive Darwinian selection

“…Examples include behavioral innovations in response to human-altered environments, such as the opening of milk bottles by the Great Tits discussed above (Hawkins, 1950) and plasticity of life-history traits in species invading novel environments (Yeh and Price, 2004).…”

Adaptive phenotypic plasticity contributes to divergence between lake and river populations of an East African cichlid fish

“…In particular, adaptive phenotypic plasticity—the generation of a phenotype that is better suited for a novel environment (Ghalambor, McKay, Carroll, & Reznick, 2007)—can promote the expansion of populations into new niches (Yeh & Price, 2004; Richards, Bossdorf, Muth, Gurevitch, & Pigliucci, 2006; Thibert‐Plante & Hendry, 2011). This is because adaptive phenotypic plasticity can temporarily protect genetic diversity from the direct impact of natural selection, thereby saving time for beneficial mutations to arise and to spread within a population, which may eventually result in genetic differentiation (Schlichting, 2004).…”