The effects of phenotypic plasticity on diversification rates and adaptive evolution in simulated environments with different climatic and cost contexts

Phenotypic plasticity can either hinder or facilitate genetic evolution, thus affecting macroevolution. However, the mechanisms and associations of phenotypic plasticity with biodiversity patterns remain unresolved. In this paper, we investigate the effect of phenotypic plasticity on adaptive evolution in the context of climatic changes and plasticity costs, specifically examining the rates of trait evolution, speciation, extinction, and diversification. We employed an eco-evolutionary agent-based model, incorporating body temperature as a plastic trait that dynamically responds to fluctuations in environmental temperature. We found the same pattern of results for both climate and plasticity cost contexts. We found that an increase in plasticity leads to a decrease in extinction and trait evolution rates, with high plasticity serving to postpone mass extinction events. Systems with plastic species experience higher speciation rates. Additionally, as plasticity increases in systems, diversification rates also increase. Our study supports the hypothesis that plasticity can facilitate adaptive evolution. It provides new insights into the effect of plasticity on adaptive evolution at larger scales, considering relevant mechanisms and factors such as population size, grouping, occupancy, plasticity extension, and dispersion.