On the fate of seasonally plastic traits in a rainforest butterfly under relaxed selection

Oostra, Vicencio; Brakefield, Paul M.; Hiltemann, Yvonne; Zwaan, Bas J.; Brattström, Oskar

doi:10.1002/ece3.1114

Cited by 21 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Relaxed selection on plasticity would result in increased rather than decreased genetic variation for plasticity 43 and potentially reduced plasticity overall (cf. 44 ). Instead, our results suggest that the most likely explanation is enhanced purifying selection solely upon reaction norms, consistent with variation in expression plasticity for these genes being largely absent in the founding population.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strong phenotypic plasticity limits potential for evolutionary responses to climate change

et al. 2018

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Phenotypic plasticity, the expression of multiple phenotypes from one genome, is a widespread adaptation to short-term environmental fluctuations, but whether it facilitates evolutionary adaptation to climate change remains contentious. Here, we investigate seasonal plasticity and adaptive potential in an Afrotropical butterfly expressing distinct phenotypes in dry and wet seasons. We assess the transcriptional architecture of plasticity in a full-factorial analysis of heritable and environmental effects across 72 individuals, and reveal pervasive gene expression differences between the seasonal phenotypes. Strikingly, intra-population genetic variation for plasticity is largely absent, consistent with specialisation to a particular environmental cue reliably predicting seasonal transitions. Under climate change, deteriorating accuracy of predictive cues will likely aggravate maladaptive phenotype-environment mismatches and increase selective pressures on reaction norms. However, the observed paucity of genetic variation for plasticity limits evolutionary responses, potentially weakening prospects for population persistence. Thus, seasonally plastic species may be especially vulnerable to climate change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strong phenotypic plasticity limits potential for evolutionary responses to climate change

et al. 2018

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“…Species inhabiting the stable African forests were represented by a laboratory population of Bicyclus martius (Fabricius, 1793) that was established in 2018 from gravid females collected in Bonkro, Ghana. This species is strongly linked to intact rainforests in West Africa but can also be found in fairly open clearings and forest margins as long as some canopy cover remains (habitat class A+B; see Larsen 2005; Oostra et al 2014a). Species inhabiting the more seasonal habitats on the African mainland were represented by a population of Bicyclus anynana (Butler, 1879) from Nkhata Bay in Malawi (Brakefield et al 2009).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal environments drive convergent evolution of a faster pace‐of‐life in tropical butterflies

et al. 2020

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New ecological niches that may arise due to climate change can trigger diversification, but their colonisation often requires adaptations in a suite of life-history traits. We test this hypothesis in species-rich Mycalesina butterflies that have undergone parallel radiations in Africa, Asia, and Madagascar. First, our ancestral state reconstruction of habitat preference, using c. 85% of extant species, revealed that early forest-linked lineages began to invade seasonal savannahs during the late Miocene-Pliocene. Second, rearing replicate pairs of forest and savannah species from the African and Malagasy radiation in a common garden experiment, and utilising published data from the Asian radiation, demonstrated that savannah species consistently develop faster, have smaller bodies, higher fecundity with an earlier investment in reproduction, and reduced longevity, compared to forest species across all three radiations. We argue that time-constraints for reproduction favoured the evolution of a faster pace-of-life in savannah species that facilitated their persistence in seasonal habitats.

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“…Closely related species of mycalesine butterflies, or even populations belonging to a single species, may be distributed over geographic areas with strikingly different seasonal environments [ 50 , 51 ]. Seasonal forms have been described for many mycalesine species [ 38 , 52 , 53 ], however, the environmental cues inducing the expression of the alternative developmental pathways are less well understood for mycalesine species other than B. anynana [ 54 ]. Species inhabiting rainforests may express significant variation in wing pattern elements without being exposed to substantial seasonal variation in temperature [ 36 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conserved patterns of integrated developmental plasticity in a group of polyphenic tropical butterflies

et al. 2017

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BackgroundDevelopmental plasticity is thought to have profound macro-evolutionary effects, for example, by increasing the probability of establishment in new environments and subsequent divergence into independently evolving lineages. In contrast to plasticity optimized for individual traits, phenotypic integration, which enables a concerted response of plastic traits to environmental variability, may affect the rate of local adaptation by constraining independent responses of traits to selection. Using a comparative framework, this study explores the evolution of reaction norms for a variety of life history and morphological traits across five related species of mycalesine butterflies from the Old World tropics.ResultsOur data indicate that an integrated response of a suite of key traits is shared amongst these species. Interestingly, the traits that make up the functional suite are all known to be regulated by ecdysteroid signalling in Bicyclus anynana, one of the species included in this study, suggesting the same underlying hormonal regulator may be conserved within this group of polyphenic butterflies. We also detect developmental thresholds for the expression of alternative morphs.ConclusionsThe phenotypic plasticity of a broad suite of morphological and life history traits is integrated and shared among species from three geographically independent lineages of mycalesine butterflies, despite considerable periods of independent evolution and exposure to disparate environments. At the same time, we have detected examples of evolutionary change where independent traits show different patterns of reaction norms. We argue that the expression of more robust phenotypes may occur by shifting developmental thresholds beyond the boundaries of the typical environmental variation.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-017-0907-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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On the fate of seasonally plastic traits in a rainforest butterfly under relaxed selection

Cited by 21 publications

References 66 publications

Strong phenotypic plasticity limits potential for evolutionary responses to climate change

Strong phenotypic plasticity limits potential for evolutionary responses to climate change

Seasonal environments drive convergent evolution of a faster pace‐of‐life in tropical butterflies

Conserved patterns of integrated developmental plasticity in a group of polyphenic tropical butterflies

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