Adaptation and plasticity in butterflies : the interplay of genes and environment
(2009) Ecology of butterflies in Europe — ISBN: [978-0-521-76697-5], XII, 513 p., published
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- Abstract
- Evolutionary ecology has developed from a broadly descriptive and partially quantified explanation of adaptation to a mature science in which the fitness components of phenotypic characters need to be quantified and adaptive hypotheses rigorously tested. The importance of genes for trait determination is now seen in the context of development and plasticity, with the recognition that a genotype may give rise to different phenotypes under different developmental conditions. This plasticity may confer advantages in variable environments, and the challenge for evolutionary ecologists is to understand selection and adaptation in the context of trade-offs between conflicting requirements and constraints on alternative developmental pathways. Butterflies vary in a number of characteristics and in order to understand adaptation in these organisms(and others for which they are often used as model systems) it is important to consider multiple rather than single traits, developmental processes and the effects of genes and regulatory mechanisms on all life stages. In effect, to understand adaptation and constraints on adaptation we need to fully explore gene × environment interactions at a range of levels, including molecular, cellular, physiological, behavioural and ecological processes. Butterflies have been used to illustrate micro-evolutionary changes within species, and the responses of species to resource changes and interlinked population processes. Comparisons between species may also illustrate how different taxa, even those that are closely related, may vary in their capacity to make short-term adaptive responses to environmental changes. By understanding the constraints on change within organisms, which operate as multifunctional integrative systems, butterfly evolutionary ecology will make an increasingly important contribution to understanding adaptation, and make vital contributions to understanding the response of these declining organisms to widespread and increasing environmental change, including changes of habitat availability and quality and climate change.
- Affiliations
Animal breeding and genomics centre (ABGC) Animal science group
Citations
Van Dyck, H., & Windig, J. J. (2009). Adaptation and plasticity in butterflies : the interplay of genes and environment. In Settele Joseph (ed.), Ecology of butterflies in Europe (p. XII, 513 p.). Cambridge University press. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/39022