Module 9

 Phenotype Plasticity - 

    Phenotypic plasticity is a concept that I struggled to understand fully until recently. I've heard about it in other classes like the genetics class that I have taken previously, but I didn't go into much depth researching it. I would define phenotypic plasticity as "The ability of organisms to produce different phenotypes in response to an external environmental change". I'm not sure where I stand on whether phenotypic plasticity slows down evolution or potentiates evolutionary change. I think it varies based on the situation and the availability of genes in the gene pool. I think if I had to choose one, I would say phenotypic plasticity slows down evolutionary change only because a population doesn't have to make hard changes by evolving when being introduced to a new stimulus in their environment. Instead, they can rely on phenotypic plasticity to change accordingly and if the stimulus goes away, then they can revert back to how they were originally. I could see phenotypic plasticity slowing down evolutionary change if there is an environmental factor that comes and goes often, allowing the organism to switch the phenotype in response. This negates the need for evolutionary change and slows it down as well. A scenario where phenotypic plasticity might speed up or potentiate evolutionary change in my mind is if an animal lives in a particularly dangerous area. If there is the constant stimulus of danger, then the organisms might just take that as a cue to make their offspring have the phenotypic trait permanently, which would be considered evolution and not phenotypic plasticity at that point. I'm still not sure if I 100% understand what phenotypic plasticity is or how to apply that knowledge to theories of evolution and populations, but I hope this made some sense!

Comments

  1. Florinda YasminNovember 1, 2021 at 7:11 PM

    Hi Ian, I am also confused about how Phenotypic plasticity actually works to slow down or speed up evolutionary change. your post makes sense phenotypic plasticity works in response to an environmental change to speed up or slow down evolution.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Madison NNovember 2, 2021 at 11:54 AM

    Despite your alleged confusion, you seem to have a pretty good grasp on plasticity! It is, indeed, when a single genotype can react to environmental stimulus and produce multiple phenotypes. For a long time, common thought held that phenotypic plasticity only limited evolutions - for the exact reasons you explained. Recent research, however, has suggested that plasticity can also propagate evolution. So, like many things in evolutionary biology, the answer is "It depends"! So good job! You did it!

    Food for thought: can plasticity itself be selected upon and evolve?

    ReplyDelete

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