Developmental plasticity mirrors differences among taxa in spadefoot toads linking plasticity and diversity.

ABSTRACT: Developmental plasticity is found in most organisms, but its role in evolution remains controversial. Environmentally induced phenotypic differences may be translated into adaptive divergence among lineages experiencing different environmental conditions through genetic accommodation. To examine this evolutionary mechanism, we studied the relationship between plasticity in larval development, postmetamorphic morphology, and morphological diversity in spadefoot toads, a group of closely related species that are highly divergent in the larval period and body shape and are distributed throughout temperate areas of both the New and the Old World. Previous studies showed that accelerated metamorphosis is adaptive for desert-dwelling spadefoot toads. We show that even under common garden conditi

SUBMITTER: Gomez-Mestre I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1748170 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature