The Biosystematic Importance of Phenotypic Plasticity

Morisset, Pierre; Boutin, Céline

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-295680-5.50024-x

Cited by 19 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…In field reciprocal transplants, prairie plants were dwarfed in height when grown at the highest elevation site (Emery et al 1994). However, this may represent a form of tolerance plasticity (Morisset & Boutin 1984), resulting from spe-cialization geared toward optimizing growth in favourable environments. Tolerance of prairie ecotypes to environmental variation may allow them to grow in a range of conditions through general phenotypic modifications that are not specific to any particular environmental factor.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The influence of phenotypic plasticity on many evolutionary and ecological principles has been documented in Correspondence: R. J. Neil Emery, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4. numerous reviews (Bradshaw 1965;Jain 1979;Morisset & Boutin 1984;Schlichting 1986;Sultan 1987;Via 1987;Steams 1989;West-Eberhard 1989), but, as predicted by Bradshaw (1965), most of the evidence concerning plasticity has inevitably been morphological rather than physiological, even though all plasticity is fundamentally physiological in origin. In fact, there have been several calls for more studies that investigate mechanistic links between environmental perception and phenotypic plasticity (Jeffries 1984;Scharloo 1989;Smith 1990;Newman 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Phenotypic plasticity of stem elongation in two ecotypes of Stellaria longipes: the role of ethylene and response to wind

Emery

Reid

Chinnappa

1994

Plant Cell & Environment

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Using two ecotypes of Stellaria longipes an alpine form with low plasticity and a prairie form with high plasticity, we investigated whether ethylene was involved in the response to wind stress and might be important in controlling plasticity of stem elongation. Stem growth inhibition was positively correlated with concentration of ethephon application and elevation in ambient ethylene in alpine ecotypes, whereas stem growth in prairie plants was stimulated by low ethephon concentrations. When treated with high AVG, the effects were reversed: alpine plant growth was promoted and prairie plant growth was inhibited. Prairie plants exhibited a daily rhythm in ethylene evolution which increased and peaked at 1500 h, and which was absent in alpine plants. Ethylene evolution did not change significantly during the first 2 weeks of growth in alpine plants, whereas ethylene in prairie plants increased significantly during periods of rapid stem elongation. Wind treatment inhibited growth in both ecotypes, but only alpine plants showed a recovery of growth to control levels when wind stressed plants were pretreated with STS. In addition, only alpine plants showed an increase in ethylene evolution in response to wind simulation, whereas prairie plant ethylene evolution did not deviate from rhythms observed in unstressed plants. We concluded that ethylene dwarfs stems in alpine S. longipes in response to wind stress. However, low levels of ethylene may stimulate growth in prairie ecotypes and act independently of wind stress intensity. The contrasting ability to synthesize and respond to ethylene can account for part of the difference in plasticity documented between the two ecotypes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenotypic plasticity of stem elongation in two ecotypes of Stellaria longipes: the role of ethylene and response to wind

Emery

Reid

Chinnappa

1994

Plant Cell & Environment

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“…Growth and seed production, however, did not differ among seed source treatments, indicating that all variation among habitats in these parameters was the result of phenotypic plasticity. The phenotypic responses of V. microstachys to environmental variation appeared to exemplify "tolerance plasticity", i.e., the ability to grow and reproduce at reduced size under unfavorable conditions (Morrisset and Boutin 1984;Taylor and Aarssen 1988).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both these forms of local adaptation imply that a species may undergo divergent selection along an environmental gradient, so that neither its abundance nor its growth and reproductive performance necessarily shows a unimodal pattern. Likewise, numerous studies demonstrate that plants may show either "tolerance plasticity", i.e., the ability to grow and reproduce at reduced size in unfavorable conditions, or "compensatory plasticity", i.e., the ability to alter allocation so as to perform equally well in alternative conditions (Morrisset and Boutin 1984;Taylor and Aarssen 1988).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abiotic stress, competition, and the distribution of the native annual grass Vulpia microstachys in a mosaic environment

2002

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We analyzed how abiotic stress and competition interact to control the abundance and performance of the native annual grass Vulpia microstachys (Lonard and Gould; Poaceae) in a heterogeneous environment. At our study site, V. microstachys grows in nonserpentine grasslands dominated by tall invasive grasses, serpentine meadows dominated by short native forbs, and rocky serpentine slopes with a sparse native herb cover. We hypothesized that these three intermixed habitats acted as a gradient of increasing abiotic stress and decreasing aboveground competition, respectively. We further expected that the abundance and performance of V. microstachys would be highest in serpentine meadows, where neither aboveground competition nor abiotic stress were maximal. Soil and biotic variables showed roughly the expected patterns, but V. microstachys did not show the predicted peak in the middle of the gradient. Emergence, seedling survival, and abundance of V. microstachys were highest, and growth and seed production of survivors were lowest, on rocky serpentine slopes. Field experiments revealed that removal of competitors enhanced all demographic parameters, but only in the more productive habitats. An interaction between seed source and habitat, affecting emergence and survival, indicated ecotypic adaptation to the rocky serpentine slope habitat. We conclude that individual variation caused by local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity allows V. microstachys to survive in widely different habitats, none of which are optimal, resulting in considerable variation in demography.

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“…Evidence is accumulating that plasticity represents more than mere developmental noise and that it may indeed play an important role in adaptive evolution (cf. Waddington 1953Waddington , 1960Bradshaw 1965Bradshaw , 1974Morisset and Boutin 1984;Schlichting 1986;Sultan 1987). However, phenotypic plasticity has received little attention by systematists.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Genetic and environmental contributions to multivariate morphological pattern in Puccinellia (Poaceae)

Davis¹

1988

Can. J. Bot.

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The contributions of genetic and environmental variation to multivariate patterns in morphology were investigated in a comparative analysis of two samples of plants representing the Puccinellia nuttalliana complex (Poaceae). The first sample is a series of individuals (genotypes) collected live, vegetatively divided, and grown under controlled environmental conditions. Phenotypic variation in this sample, in individual characters and in multivariate factors, can be apportioned between genetic (among genotype) and environmental (among treatment) causes. The second sample consists of field-collected individuals from throughout the North American range of the complex. Variation in this sample, as in most field-collected samples, cannot be assigned directly to its underlying causes. Multivariate patterns in the two samples were analyzed by identical principal-components analyses of 48 morphological characters. The strongest factor identified by the greenhouse principal-components analysis correlates with the strongest of the field principal-components analysis; they are similar in character makeup, both reflecting spikelet size and plant scabrousness. These factors have a genetic component and no environmental component and appear to differentiate Puccinellia distans from the rest of the complex. The second strongest factor of the greenhouse principal-components analysis correlates with the second of the field principal-components analysis. These axes reflect general vegetative stature; they have genetic and plastic components. The overall analysis indicates that multivariate patterns in phenotype can reflect both genetic and environmental effects, in varying proportions; patterns of genetic affinity therefore may be difficult to dissociate from those reflecting plasticity.

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The Biosystematic Importance of Phenotypic Plasticity

Cited by 19 publications

References 19 publications

Phenotypic plasticity of stem elongation in two ecotypes of Stellaria longipes: the role of ethylene and response to wind

Phenotypic plasticity of stem elongation in two ecotypes of Stellaria longipes: the role of ethylene and response to wind

Abiotic stress, competition, and the distribution of the native annual grass Vulpia microstachys in a mosaic environment

Genetic and environmental contributions to multivariate morphological pattern in Puccinellia (Poaceae)

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