Data from: Iterative development and the scope for plasticity: contrasts among trait categories in an adaptive radiation

Phenotypic plasticity can influence evolutionary change in a lineage,
ranging from facilitation of population persistence in a novel environment
to directing the patterns of evolutionary change. As the specific nature
of plasticity can impact evolutionary consequences, it is essential to
consider how plasticity is manifested if we are to understand the
contribution of plasticity to phenotypic evolution. Most morphological
traits are developmentally plastic, irreversible, and generally considered
to be costly, at least when the resultant phenotype is mis-matched to the
environment. At the other extreme, behavioral phenotypes are typically
activational (modifiable on very short time scales), and not immediately
costly as they are produced by constitutive neural networks. Although
patterns of morphological and behavioral plasticity are often compared,
patterns of plasticity of life history phenotypes are rarely considered.
Here we review patterns of plasticity in these trait categories within and
among populations, comprising the adaptive radiation of the threespine
stickleback fish Gasterosteus aculeatus. We immediately found it necessary
to consider the possibility of iterated development, the concept that
behavioral and life history trajectories can be repeatedly reset on
activational (usually behavior) or developmental (usually life history)
time frames, offering fine tuning of the response to environmental
context. Morphology in stickleback is primarily reset only in that
developmental trajectories can be altered as environments change over the
course of development. As anticipated, the boundaries between the trait
categories are not clear and are likely to be linked by shared, underlying
physiological and genetic systems.