The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. XI. Joint evolution of plasticity and dispersal rate

In a spatially heterogeneous environment, the rate at which individuals move among habitats affects whether selection favors phenotypic plasticity or genetic differentiation, with high dispersal rates favoring trait plasticity. Until now, in theoretical explorations of plasticity evolution, dispersa...

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Main Authors:	Scheiner, Samuel M, Barfield, Michael, Holt, Robert D
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2012
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3434005/

id	pubmed-3434005
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-34340052012-09-06 The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. XI. Joint evolution of plasticity and dispersal rate Scheiner, Samuel M Barfield, Michael Holt, Robert D Original Research In a spatially heterogeneous environment, the rate at which individuals move among habitats affects whether selection favors phenotypic plasticity or genetic differentiation, with high dispersal rates favoring trait plasticity. Until now, in theoretical explorations of plasticity evolution, dispersal rate has been treated as a fixed, albeit probabilistic, characteristic of a population, raising the question of what happens when the propensity to disperse and trait plasticity are allowed to evolve jointly. We examined the effects of their joint evolution on selection for plasticity using an individual-based computer simulation model. In the model, the environment consisted of a linear gradient of 50 demes with dispersal occurring either before or after selection. Individuals consisted of loci whose phenotypic expression either are affected by the environment (plastic) or are not affected (nonplastic), plus a locus determining the propensity to disperse. When dispersal rate and trait plasticity evolve jointly, the system tends to dichotomous outcomes of either high trait plasticity and high dispersal, or low trait plasticity and low dispersal. The outcome strongly depended on starting conditions, with high trait plasticity and dispersal favored when the system started at high values for either trait plasticity or dispersal rate (or both). Adding a cost of plasticity tended to drive the system to genetic differentiation, although this effect also depended on initial conditions. Genetic linkage between trait plasticity loci and dispersal loci further enhanced this strong dichotomy in evolutionary outcomes. All of these effects depended on organismal life history pattern, and in particular whether selection occurred before or after dispersal. These results can explain why adaptive trait plasticity is less common than might be expected. Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2012-08 2012-07-20 /pmc/articles/PMC3434005/ /pubmed/22957203 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.327 Text en © 2012 Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ Re-use of this article is permitted in accordance with the Creative Commons Deed, Attribution 2.5, which does not permit commercial exploitation.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Scheiner, Samuel M Barfield, Michael Holt, Robert D
spellingShingle	Scheiner, Samuel M Barfield, Michael Holt, Robert D The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. XI. Joint evolution of plasticity and dispersal rate
author_facet	Scheiner, Samuel M Barfield, Michael Holt, Robert D
author_sort	Scheiner, Samuel M
title	The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. XI. Joint evolution of plasticity and dispersal rate
title_short	The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. XI. Joint evolution of plasticity and dispersal rate
title_full	The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. XI. Joint evolution of plasticity and dispersal rate
title_fullStr	The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. XI. Joint evolution of plasticity and dispersal rate
title_full_unstemmed	The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. XI. Joint evolution of plasticity and dispersal rate
title_sort	genetics of phenotypic plasticity. xi. joint evolution of plasticity and dispersal rate
description	In a spatially heterogeneous environment, the rate at which individuals move among habitats affects whether selection favors phenotypic plasticity or genetic differentiation, with high dispersal rates favoring trait plasticity. Until now, in theoretical explorations of plasticity evolution, dispersal rate has been treated as a fixed, albeit probabilistic, characteristic of a population, raising the question of what happens when the propensity to disperse and trait plasticity are allowed to evolve jointly. We examined the effects of their joint evolution on selection for plasticity using an individual-based computer simulation model. In the model, the environment consisted of a linear gradient of 50 demes with dispersal occurring either before or after selection. Individuals consisted of loci whose phenotypic expression either are affected by the environment (plastic) or are not affected (nonplastic), plus a locus determining the propensity to disperse. When dispersal rate and trait plasticity evolve jointly, the system tends to dichotomous outcomes of either high trait plasticity and high dispersal, or low trait plasticity and low dispersal. The outcome strongly depended on starting conditions, with high trait plasticity and dispersal favored when the system started at high values for either trait plasticity or dispersal rate (or both). Adding a cost of plasticity tended to drive the system to genetic differentiation, although this effect also depended on initial conditions. Genetic linkage between trait plasticity loci and dispersal loci further enhanced this strong dichotomy in evolutionary outcomes. All of these effects depended on organismal life history pattern, and in particular whether selection occurred before or after dispersal. These results can explain why adaptive trait plasticity is less common than might be expected.
publisher	Blackwell Publishing Ltd
publishDate	2012
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3434005/
_version_	1611554229059584000

The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. XI. Joint evolution of plasticity and dispersal rate

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