Evolution and the Flexible Organism
By David William Pfennig
Do environmentally induced changes to individuals affect natural selection, and if so, how?
This Article From Issue
March-April 2022
Volume 110, Number 2
Page 94
Genes are often thought to solely dictate an organism’s features. Yet, naturalists have long realized that an organism’s environment can profoundly shape its attributes.
QUICK TAKE
- Phenotypic plasticity—in which organisms produce different features in different environments––is ubiquitous, but whether and how it impacts evolution is not fully understood.
- Contrary to longstanding ideas, phenotypic plasticity may play a crucial role in facilitating evolution by promoting population persistence and exposing hidden genetic variation
- Knowledge of plasticity enhances our understanding of the role the environment plays in evolution by both selecting phenotypic variation and helping to generate that variation.
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