title: Applying developmental threshold models to evolutionary ecology.
abstract: Process-based models of development predict developmental rates and phenology as a function of physiological responses to multiple dynamic environmental factors. These models can be adapted to analyze diverse processes in evolutionary ecology. By linking models across life stages, they can predict life cycles and generation times. By incorporating fitness, they can identify environmental and physiological factors that limit species distributions. By incorporating population variance, they can investigate mechanisms of intraspecific variation or synchronization. By incorporating genetics, they can predict genotype-specific phenology under diverse climatic scenarios and examine causes and consequences of pleiotropy across life stages. With further development, they have the potential to predict genotype-specific ranges and identify key genes involved in determining phenology and fitness in variable and changing environments.
authors.affiliation: Duke University, Department of Biology, Box 90338, Durham, NC 27708, USA. Electronic address: k.donohue@duke.edu.
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Donohue
authors.affiliation: Duke University, Department of Biology, Box 90338, Durham, NC 27708, USA. Electronic address: liana.burghardt@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Liana T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Burghardt
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Runcie
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Kent J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Bradford
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schmitt
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D002980:Climate; D017753:Ecosystem; D008018:Life Cycle Stages; D008954:Models, Biological; D012621:Seasons; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: environmental change; life cycle; phenology; population-based models; process-based models; range limits; reaction norm