Evolution of phenotypic plasticity during environmental fluctuations

Abstract

Evolution in fluctuating environments is predicted to disfavor specialization and instead select for alternative strategies, such as phenotypic plasticity or possibly bet-hedging, depending on the accuracy of environmental cues and type of fluctuations. While these two alternatives are often contrasted in theoretical studies, their evolution are seldom studied together in empirical work. We used experimental evolution in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis remanei to simultaneously study the evolution of plasticity and bet-hedging in environments differing only in their temperature variability. We exposed worms for 30 generations to either fluctuating or slowly increasing temperature, these two environments had the same average temperature over evolutionary time. After experimental evolution, we scored size at sexual maturity and fitness in full siblings reared in two different temperatures, optimal 20{degrees}C and mildly stressful 25{degrees}C. Experimental evolution in the fluctuating environment resulted in the evolution of increased body size plasticity but not increased bet-hedging, compared to evolution in the slowly changing environment. Plasticity followed the temperature size rule as size decreased with increasing temperature and this plastic response was adaptive. In addition, we documented substantial standing genetic variation in body size, which represents a potential for further evolutionary change.