Rapid evolution of phenotypic plasticity in patchy habitats.

ABSTRACT: Phenotypic plasticity may evolve rapidly, enabling a population's persistence in the face of sudden environmental change. Rapid evolution can occur when there is considerable genetic polymorphism at selected loci. We propose that balancing selection could be one of the mechanisms that sustain such polymorphism for plasticity. We use stochastic Monte Carlo simulations and deterministic analysis to investigate the evolution of a plasticity modifier locus in structured populations inhabiting favorable and adverse environments, i.e. patchy habitats. We survey a wide range of parameters including selective pressures on a target (structural) locus, plasticity effects, population sizes, and migration patterns between demes including periodic or continuous bidirectional and source-sink dynamics. W

SUBMITTER: Promy NT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10628295 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature