Stressful environments induce novel phenotypic variation: hierarchical reaction norms for sperm performance of a pervasive invader.

ABSTRACT: Genetic variation for phenotypic plasticity is ubiquitous and important. However, the scale of such variation including the relative variability present in reaction norms among different hierarchies of biological organization (e.g., individuals, populations, and closely related species) is unknown. Complicating interpretation is a trade-off in environmental scale. As plasticity can only be inferred over the range of environments tested, experiments focusing on fine tuned responses to normal or benign conditions may miss cryptic phenotypic variation expressed under novel or stressful environments. Here, we sought to discern the presence and shape of plasticity in the performance of brown trout sperm as a function of optimal to extremely stressful river pH, and demarcate if the reaction norm

SUBMITTER: Purchase CF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3492782 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature