title: Constraints on the evolution of phenotypic plasticity: limits and costs of phenotype and plasticity.
abstract: Phenotypic plasticity is ubiquitous and generally regarded as a key mechanism for enabling organisms to survive in the face of environmental change. Because no organism is infinitely or ideally plastic, theory suggests that there must be limits (for example, the lack of ability to produce an optimal trait) to the evolution of phenotypic plasticity, or that plasticity may have inherent significant costs. Yet numerous experimental studies have not detected widespread costs. Explicitly differentiating plasticity costs from phenotype costs, we re-evaluate fundamental questions of the limits to the evolution of plasticity and of generalists vs specialists. We advocate for the view that relaxed selection and variable selection intensities are likely more important constraints to the evolution of plasticity than the costs of plasticity. Some forms of plasticity, such as learning, may be inherently costly. In addition, we examine opportunities to offset costs of phenotypes through ontogeny, amelioration of phenotypic costs across environments, and the condition-dependent hypothesis. We propose avenues of further inquiry in the limits of plasticity using new and classic methods of ecological parameterization, phylogenetics and omics in the context of answering questions on the constraints of plasticity. Given plasticity's key role in coping with environmental change, approaches spanning the spectrum from applied to basic will greatly enrich our understanding of the evolution of plasticity and resolve our understanding of limits.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, USA.
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Murren
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, West Chester University, West Chester, PA, USA.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Auld
authors.affiliation: Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Callahan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
authors.forename: C K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Ghalambor
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Handelsman
authors.affiliation: Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Acton, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Heskel
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Kingsolver
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Maclean
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7398-2127
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Masel
authors.affiliation: Ronin Institute, Montclair, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Maughan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Pfennig
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Relyea
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seiter
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN, USA.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Snell-Rood
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Max-Planck Odense Centre on the Biodemography of Aging, Odense, Denmark.
authors.forename: U K
authors.initials: UK
authors.lastname: Steiner
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA.
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Schlichting
mesh_terms: D000220:Adaptation, Biological / Q000235:genetics; D005075:Biological Evolution; D004777:Environment; D056084:Genetic Fitness; D014644:Genetic Variation; D010641:Phenotype; D012641:Selection, Genetic