Evolution of phenotypic plasticity owing to migration.

ABSTRACT: Phenotypic plasticity enables organisms to produce better-suited phenotypes when the environment changes, improving fitness under adverse conditions. Yet responding to environmental cues may provide little use in a constant environment, where organisms already express optimal phenotypes. The forces that sustain plasticity and account for its widespread presence, thus, remain unclear, as plasticity must remain advantageous to persist. Although typically associated with changing environments, maintenance of plasticity requires generational turnover such that parents and offspring regularly encounter different conditions. Here, we demonstrate that even a low number of migrants between locally adapted populations, in constant environments, can promote the emergence and persistence of phenotypi

SUBMITTER: Gulisija D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12870872 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature