Phenotypic Plasticity

TL;DR: Phenotypic plasticity is the capacity of an organism to alter its phenotype in response to changing environmental conditions. It has ecological and evolutionary implications, including the ability to persist in unfavorable environments, produce novel traits, and interact with other members of the community.

Abstract: Phenotypic plasticity (often termed “plasticity”) is generally defined as the capacity of an individual organism to alter its behavior, physiology/gene expression, and/or morphology (i.e., some aspect of its phenotype) in direct response to changing environmental conditions. Plasticity is ubiquitous and many have suggested that it can have important ecological and evolutionary implications. Among other things, plasticity may allow organisms to persist in otherwise unfavorable environments, produce novel, complex traits, and experience altered interactions with other members of their community. In recent decades, the evolutionary power of plasticity has received renewed interest. In particular, the process of genetic accommodation has dominated the literature because of its potential relevance to all aspects of biology. However, there is some skepticism regarding the importance of phenotypic plasticity generally, and genetic accommodation specifically, in evolution. Indeed, despite plasticity being acknowledged for over 100 years, its importance to evolutionary biology has evolved from being a relevant source of phenotypic variation, to being considered just developmental noise, to possibly forming the basis of an extended evolutionary synthesis. While phenotypic plasticity may be viewed as a primarily ecological/evolutionary phenomenon, it touches on such diverse fields as behavior, learning, conservation biology, and human health. Because of its pervasiveness, appreciation for and understanding of phenotypic plasticity would be beneficial to all biologists.