[Phenotypic plasticity of organisms and evolution].
The compensatory phenotypic modifications can essentially reduce certain harmful consequences of various injuries of the organism systems resulted from traumas as well mutations. The high phenotypic plasticity can promote for a fixation of large hereditary morpho-functional alterations. Such innovations (along with more usual small variations) can serve as the elementary evolutionary material from which the natural selection can subsequently form new adaptations and new types of organization. The directions of evolution accessible for a given species are limited by the possibilities of both its genetical and phenotypic variability.
Iordanskiĭ
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