title: Developmental plasticity and evolution--quo vadis?
abstract: The role of developmental (phenotypic) plasticity in ecology and evolution is receiving a growing appreciation among the biologists, and many plasticity-specific concepts have become well established as part of the mainstream evolutionary biological thinking. In this essay, I posit that despite this progress several key perspectives in developmental plasticity remain remarkably traditional, and that it may be time to re-evaluate their continued usefulness in the face of the available evidence as the field looks to its future. Specifically, I discuss the utility of viewing plastic development as ultimately rooted in genes and genomes, and investigate the common notion that the environment--albeit a critical source of information--nevertheless remains passive, external to and separable from the organism responding to it. I end by highlighting conceptual and empirical opportunities that may permit developmental plasticity research to transcend its current boundaries and to continue its contributions toward a holistic and realistic understanding of organismal development and evolution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Moczek
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D004777:Environment; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010641:Phenotype