Data from: Adaptive alignment of plasticity with genetic variation and selection

Theoretical research has outlined how selection may shape both genetic
variation and the expression of phenotypic plasticity in multivariate
trait space. Specifically, research regarding the evolution of patterns of
additive genetic variances and covariances (summarized in matrix form as
G) and complimentary research into how selection may shape adaptive
plasticity lead to the general prediction that G, plasticity, and
selection surfaces are all expected to align with each other. However,
less well discussed is how this prediction might be assessed and how the
modelled theoretical processes are expected to manifest in actual
populations. Here, we discuss the theoretical foundations of the
overarching prediction of alignment, what alignment mathematically means,
how researchers might test for alignment, and important caveats to this
testing. The most important caveat concerns the fact that, for plasticity,
the prediction of alignment only applies to cases where plasticity is
adaptive, whereas organisms express considerable plasticity that may be
neutral or even maladaptive. We detail the ramifications of these
alternative expressions of plasticity vis-à-vis predictions of alignment.
Finally, we briefly highlight some important interpretations of deviations
from the prediction of alignment and what alignment might mean for
populations experiencing environmental and selective changes.