The phenotypic plasticity of Death Valley's pupfish: desert fish are revealing how the environment alters development to modify body shape and behavior
Lema SC. 2008. The phenotypic plasticity of Death Valley's pupfish: desert fish are revealing how the environment alters development to modify body shape and behavior. American Scientist. 96(1):28
In the case of pupfish, variations in body shape and behavior play the role that beak sizes played for Darwin. The body shape, behavior and even the brain of a pupfish is flexible so that its development is influenced by the environmental conditions experienced during early life. This flexibility is called phenotypic plasticity, and studies by the author and colleagues are uncovering how it plays a key role in shaping the phenotypic diversity of Death Valley's pup fishes. As research on phenotypic plasticity accrues, it is becoming clear that almost all traits show some plasticity. Patterns of phenotypic variation among pupfish populations are generated in part through the plastic developmental responses of fish to their ecologically distinct habitats.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Lema, Sean
- Units
- DEVA
- Keywords
- Absence (Biodiversity), Amargosa River, arginine vasotocin, Behavior, body shape, Cyprinodon diabolis (Devils Hole Pupfish), Devils Hole Nye County NV, Ichthyology, Presence (Biodiversity), Taxa Links To References