Silver spoons in the rough: can environmental enrichment improve survival of hatchery Atlantic salmon Salmo salar in the wild?

This study tested the ‘silver spoon’ hypothesis which posits that individuals that develop under favourable conditions should enjoy a fitness advantage later in life because they are more likely to recognize and settle in high‐quality habitats. Atlantic salmon Salmo salar of two age classes (0+ and 1+ years) were reared in environmentally enriched or standard hatchery tanks for a short period (c. 10 weeks), were then released into a natural river and sampled on repeated occasions to test for silver‐spoon effects. Compared with controls, enriched fish had a 6·4% higher recapture rate and settled in higher velocity habitats when they were stocked as 0+ year fry, but not when they were stocked as 1+ year parr. The opportunity for selection was generally higher for environmentally enriched fish than for controls, and also higher for 0+ than for 1+ year fish. Selection favoured individuals with high condition factor, extensive fat reserves and longer than average pectoral fins in both age classes but favoured a small body size in 1+ year and a large body size in 0+ year releases. Stomach analysis showed that enriched fish ate more, and adapted quicker to natural prey than controls. These results provide support for silver‐spoon effects in fish and indicate that enrichment can improve post‐release performance in conservation programmes, but seemingly only if fish are not kept in captivity for too long.     

Phenotypic plasticity and integration in response to flooded conditions in natural accessions of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh (Brassicaceae)

Flood response is a crucial component of the life strategy of many plants, but it is seldom studied in non-flooded tolerant species, even though they may be subjected to stressful environmental conditions. Phenotypic plasticity in reaction to environmental stress affects the whole plant phenotype and can alter the character correlations that constitute the phenotypic architecture of the individual, yet few studies have investigated the lability of phenotypic integration to water regime. Moreover, little has been done to date to quantify the sort of selective pressures that different components of a plant's phenotype may be experiencing under contrasting water regimes. Genetic differentiation and phenotypic plasticity at the single-trait and multivariate levels were investigated in 47 accessions of the weedy plant Arabidopsis thaliana, and the relationship of plastic characters to reproductive fitness was quantified. Results indicate that these plants tend to be highly genetically differentiated for all traits, in agreement with predictions made on the basis of environmental variation and mating system. Varied patterns of apparent selection under flooded and non-flooded conditions were also uncovered, suggesting trade-offs in allocation between roots and above-ground biomass, as well as between leaves and reproductive structures. While the major components of the plants' multivariate phenotypic architecture were not significantly affected by environmental changes, many of the details were different under flooded and non-flooded conditions.     

Selection experiments and the study of phenotypic plasticity1

Abstract Laboratory selection experiments are powerful tools for establishing evolutionary potentials. Such experiments provide two types of information, knowledge about genetic architecture and insight into evolutionary dynamics. They can be roughly classified into two types: (1) artificial selection in which the experimenter selects on a focal trait or trait index, and (2) quasi‐natural selection in which the experimenter establishes a set of environmental conditions and then allows the population to evolve. Both approaches have been used in the study of phenotypic plasticity. Artificial selection experiments have taken various forms including: selection directly on a reaction norm, selection on a trait in multiple environments, and selection on a trait in a single environment. In the latter experiments, evolution of phenotypic plasticity is investigated as a correlated response. Quasi‐natural selection experiments have examined the effects of both spatial and temporal variation. I describe how to carry out such experiments, summarize past efforts, and suggest further avenues of research.     

Evolution of adaptive phenotypic traits without positive Darwinian selection

Recent evidence suggests the frequent occurrence of a simple non-Darwinian (but non-Lamarckian) model for the evolution of adaptive phenotypic traits, here entitled the plasticity-relaxation-mutation (PRM) mechanism. This mechanism involves ancestral phenotypic plasticity followed by specialization in one alternative environment and thus the permanent expression of one alternative phenotype. Once this specialization occurs, purifying selection on the molecular basis of other phenotypes is relaxed. Finally, mutations that permanently eliminate the pathways leading to alternative phenotypes can be fixed by genetic drift. Although the generality of the PRM mechanism is at present unknown, I discuss evidence for its widespread occurrence, including the prevalence of exaptations in evolution, evidence that phenotypic plasticity has preceded adaptation in a number of taxa and evidence that adaptive traits have resulted from loss of alternative developmental pathways. The PRM mechanism can easily explain cases of explosive adaptive radiation, as well as recently reported cases of apparent adaptive evolution over ecological time.     

人工选择下旱地小麦生长塑性与产量形成特征

旱地小麦在进化过程中经受了自然和人工的双重选择,其中人工选择在品种驯化和改良过程中扮演了关键的角色.本文综述了人工选择下旱地小麦进化特征、生理可塑性、形态可塑性和种群属性演变等几个相对独立、但又相互联系的问题,探讨了旱地小麦适应逆境胁迫的生理生态机理,并勾画了其进化路线.在旱地小麦从二倍体到六倍体的漫长进化历程中,自然选择对小麦适应外界环境起到关键作用;随着人工选择的介入,以产量为主要目标的性状选择不断得到强化,从群体上呈现适应逆境的形态特征.人工选择下旱地小麦的水分及养分利用效率不断提升,生物量分配呈现出地下部减少、地上部增加的分配特征,对密度胁迫和高温胁迫的耐受性不断增强,但单位面积光合速率呈逐渐降低趋势.旱地小麦生产是复杂的群体过程,而非简单的个体反应.人工选择提高了旱地小麦的种群适合度和个体繁殖分配,强化了与环境的协同性,却弱化了其自然种群属性.本文还对旱地小麦的进化图进行了描绘,对气候变化下旱地小麦育种和栽培管理提出几点建议.     

Density-dependent habitat selection in plants

Pea plants exhibit density-dependent habitat selection as they grow. We split the root of a young pea (Pisum sativum L.) so that half grew in one pot and half in an adjacent pot. The rest of the plant remained intact. This is a ‘fence-sitter plant’. Each root-half was exposed either to no competition in its pot or to competitor plants sharing its pot. There were one, two, three or five competitor plants. The total root biomass and the fitness (= dry weight of fruit) of the fence-sitter decreased only slightly and insignificantly in response to increased density of the competitor plants. The fitness of the competing plants decreased with density. The fence-sitter shifted its root system from the pot with competition to that free of competition in proportion to the number of competitors. The fence-sitter apparently invested in each of its two roots so that the ratio between the roots was similar to the ratio between the resources in the pots. This result is analogous to the habitat-matching rule of the ideal free distribution of populations (Fretwell, 1972). We suggest that plants invest in each of their roots until the uptake rate per unit root biomass is equal for all roots. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The genetics of phenotypic plasticity. II. Response to selection

We selected on phenotypic plasticity of thorax size in response to temperature in Drosophila melanogaster using a family selection scheme. The results were compared to those of lines selected directly on thorax size. We found that the plasticity of a character does respond to selection and this response is partially independent of the response to selection on the mean of the character. One puzzling result was that a selection limit of zero plasticity was reached in the lines selected for decreased plasticity yet additive genetic variation for plasticity still existed in the lines. We tested the predictions of three models of the genetic basis of phenotypic plasticity: overdominance, pleiotropy, and epistasis. The results mostly support the epistasis model, that the plasticity of a character is determined by separate loci from those determining the mean of the character.     

Evolutionary reduction of developmental plasticity in desert spadefoot toads

Organisms vary their rates of growth and development in response to environmental inputs. Such developmental plasticity may be adaptive and positively correlate with environmental heterogeneity. However, the evolution of developmental plasticity among closely related taxa is not well understood. To determine the evolutionary pattern of plasticity, we compared plasticity in time to and size at metamorphosis in response to water desiccation in tadpoles among spadefoot species that differ in breeding pond and larval period durations. Like most tadpoles, spadefoot tadpoles possess the remarkable ability to accelerate development in response to pond drying to avoid desiccation. Here, we hypothesize that desert spadefoot tadpoles have evolved reduced plasticity to avoid desiccation in ephemeral desert pools compared to their nondesert relatives that breed in long-duration ponds. We recorded time to and size at metamorphosis following experimental manipulation of water levels and found that desert-adapted species had much less plasticity in larval period and size at metamorphosis than nondesert species, which retain the hypothetical ancestral state of plasticity. Furthermore, we observed a correlation between degree of plasticity and fat body content that may provide mechanistic insights into the evolution of developmental plasticity in amphibians.