Abstract
Phenotypic flexibility allows individuals to reversibly modify trait values and theory predicts an individual’s relative degree of flexibility positively correlates with the environmental heterogeneity it experiences. We test this prediction by integrating surveys of population genetic and physiological variation with thermal acclimation experiments and indices of environmental heterogeneity in the Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) and its congeners. We combine field measures of thermogenic capacity for 335 individuals, 22,006 single nucleotide polymorphisms genotyped in 181 individuals, and laboratory acclimations replicated on five populations. We show that Junco populations: (1) differ in their thermogenic responses to temperature variation in the field; (2) harbor allelic variation that also correlates with temperature heterogeneity; and (3) exhibit intra-specific variation in thermogenic flexibility in the laboratory that correlates with the heterogeneity of their native thermal environment. These results provide comprehensive support that phenotypic flexibility corresponds with environmental heterogeneity and highlight its importance for coping with environmental change.
| Original language | English |
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| Article number | 4401 |
| Journal | Nature Communications |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 1 2021 |
Funding
We are indebted to the natural history museums that contributed to this project, including the Burke Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, the Bell Museum of Natural History, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates, the Field Museum of Natural History, the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science, the Museum of Southwest Biology, the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, the New York State Museum, the Royal Alberta Museum, the San Diego Natural History Museum, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the University of Alaska Museum, the University of Montana Zoological Museum, and the University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrates. We are also thankful to the help of Brett Addis, Phred Benham, Jeff Brawn, Kevin Burns, Charles Dardia, Eleanor Diamant, Eric Gulson, Andy Johnson, John Klicka, Thom Nelson, Henry Pollock, Trey Sasser, Rena Schweizer, Nick Sly, Link Smith, Gregory Toreev, Phil Unitt, David Winkler, Chris Witt, Blair Wolf, Cole Wolf, Sally Woodin, Pamela Yeh, Point Loma Nazarene University, the UNM Sevilleta Field Station, the UW-NPS Research Station, the DU Mt. Evans Field Station, and the AMNH Southwestern Research Station, as well as the Cheviron lab for feedback on an earlier version of this manuscript. This work was supported by generous funds from the American Museum of Natural History Chapman Fund, the American Philosophical Society Lewis and Clark Fund, the Explorers Club, the Illinois Ornithological Society, the Nuttall-Ornithological Society, Sigma Xi, the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, the Society of Systematic Biologists, the University of Illinois Graduate School, the University of Illinois School of Integrative Biology, and the Wilson Ornithological Society (to M.S.); and the University of Montana (startup to Z.A.C). M.S. was supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, P.E.O. International, and the University of Montana Graduate School Bertha Morton Fellowship.
| Funders |
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| American Museum of Natural History |
| American Museum of Natural History |