ArticleEcology letters2020
Reduced phenotypic plasticity evolves in less predictable environments.
Article in Ecology letters, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
50 citing papers in PubMed.
- Greater Thermal Plasticity Toward Heterogeneous Range-Edge Environments of ThreeEcology and evolution · 2026Article
- Environmental predictability drives different routes to adaptation.Evolution letters · 2026Article
- Phenotypic plasticity evolved for climate variability constrains performance under climate warming.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Adaptive responses to environmental variability in rotifers: Integrating plasticity and bet hedging in dormancy exit.Ecology · 2026Article
- New Method for Quantification of Phenotypic Plasticity Reveals How Plasticity Changes Over Time in the DiatomEcology and evolution · 2026Article
- Temporal dynamics and adaptiveness of thermal phenotypic plasticity in a ciliate.Evolution letters · 2025Article
- Synching with seasonality: Predicting roe deer parturition phenology across its distributional range.The Journal of animal ecology · 2025Article
- Variation in Response to Water Availability AcrossPlant-environment interactions (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2025Article
- Past environments modulate response to fluctuating temperatures in a marine fish species, Sebastes fasciatus.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Article
- Phenological Plasticity and Its Temperature-Related Drivers in Common Songbirds Across Europe.Global change biology · 2025Article
- Thermal Plasticity of Multiple Traits Varies More Within Than Between Populations ofEcology and evolution · 2025Article
- The impact of shade on whole-plant carbon allocation in a dominant East African tree sapling.AoB PLANTS · 2025Article
- Evolution of Thermal Plasticity inEcology and evolution · 2025Article
- Phenotypic and dispersal plasticity are not alternative strategies for organisms to face thermal changes.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Impacts of limits to adaptation on population and community persistence in a changing environment.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Trait and plasticity evolution under competition and mutualism in evolving pairwise yeast communities.PloS one · 2025Article
- Plasticity in Hydraulic Architecture: Riparian Trees Respond to Increased Temperatures With Genotype-Specific Adjustments to Leaf Traits.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity drive leaf trait variation in the California endemic toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia).American journal of botany · 2024Article
- Constructing stability: optimal learning in noisy ecological niches.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Physiological resilience of intertidal chitons in a persistent upwelling coastal region.Scientific reports · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Phenotypic plasticity is a prominent mechanism for coping with variable environments, and a key determinant of extinction risk. Evolutionary theory predicts that phenotypic plasticity should evolve to lower levels in environments that fluctuate less predictably, because they induce mismatches between plastic responses and selective pressures. However, this prediction is difficult to test in nature, where environmental predictability is not controlled. Here, we exposed 32 lines of the halotolerant microalga Dunaliella salina to ecologically realistic, randomly fluctuating salinity, with varying levels of predictability, for 500 generations. We found that morphological plasticity evolved to lower degrees in lines that experienced less predictable environments. Evolution of plasticity mostly concerned phases with slow population growth, rather than the exponential phase where microbes are typically phenotyped. This study underlines that long-term experiments with complex patterns of environmental change are needed to test theories about population responses to altered environmental predictability, as currently observed under climate change.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.