Variation in spawning time promotes genetic variability in population responses to environmental change in a marine fish.

ABSTRACT: The level of phenotypic plasticity displayed within a population (i.e. the slope of the reaction norm) reflects the short-term response of a population to environmental change, while variation in reaction norm slopes among populations reflects spatial variation in these responses. Thus far, studies of thermal reaction norm variation have focused on geographically driven adaptation among different latitudes, altitudes or habitats. Yet, thermal variability is a function of both space and time. For organisms that reproduce at different times of year, such variation has the potential to promote adaptive variability in thermal responses for critical early life stages. Using common-garden experiments, we examined the spatial scale of genetic variation in thermal plasticity for early life-history

SUBMITTER: Oomen RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4778481 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature