Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Evolutionary biology

Perplexing effects of phenotypic plasticity

Nature volume 525, pages 326–327 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Research on guppies provides evidence that phenotypic plasticity — an organism's ability to alter its characteristics in response to changes in the environment — can both constrain and facilitate adaptive evolution. See Letter p.372

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Trinidadian guppies.

Gerard Lacz/Rex/Shutterstock

Notes

  1. See all news & views

References

  1. West-Eberhard, M. J. Developmental Plasticity and Evolution (Oxford Univ. Press, 2003).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Price, T. D., Qvarnström, A. & Irwin, D. E. Proc. R. Soc. B 270, 1433–1440 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Chevin, L.-M., Lande, R. & Mace, G. M. PLoS Biol. 8, e1000357 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Pfennig, D. W. et al. Trends Ecol. Evol. 25, 459–467 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Ghalambor, C. K. et al. Nature 525, 372–375 (2015).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Ancel, L. W. Theor. Popul. Biol. 58, 307–319 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Paenke, I., Sendhoff, B. & Kawecki, T. J. Am. Nat. 170, E47–E58 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Waddington, C. H. Adv. Genet. 10, 257–293 (1961).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Suzuki, Y. & Nijhout, H. F. Science 311, 650–652 (2006).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Schaum, C. E. & Collins, S. Proc. R. Soc. B 281, 20141486 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Juha Merilä is in the Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.,

    Juha Merilä

Authors
  1. Juha Merilä
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Juha Merilä.

Related links

Related links

Related links in Nature Research

Evolutionary biology: Insects converge on resistance

Evolutionary developmental biology: Dynasty of the plastic fish

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Merilä, J. Perplexing effects of phenotypic plasticity. Nature 525, 326–327 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15214

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature15214

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing