Adapting to an increasingly stressful environment: Experimental evidence for 'micro-evolutionary priming'.

ABSTRACT: In many natural systems, animal populations are exposed to increasing levels of stress. Stress levels tend to fluctuate, and long-term increases in average stress levels are often accompanied by greater amplitudes of such fluctuations. Micro-evolutionary adaptation may allow populations to cope with gradually increasing stress levels but may not prevent their extirpation during acute stress events unless adaptation to low stress levels also increases their tolerance to acute stress. We tested this idea, here called 'micro-evolutionary priming', by exposing populations of the monogonont rotifer species Brachionus calyciflorus to four levels of copper stress (control, low, intermediate and high) during a multigenerational selection experiment. Subsequently, in a common garden experiment, we

SUBMITTER: Han S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12056352 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature