Evaluating the fitness consequences of plasticity in tolerance to pesticides.

In a rapidly changing world, phenotypic plasticity may be a critical mechanism allowing populations to rapidly acclimate when faced with novel anthropogenic stressors. Theory predicts that if exposure to anthropogenic stress is heterogeneous, plasticity should be maintained as it allows organisms to avoid unnecessary expression of costly traits (i.e.

The effects of different cold-temperature regimes on development, growth, and susceptibility to an abiotic and biotic stressor.

Global climate change is expected to both increase average temperatures as well as temperature variability.Increased average temperatures have led to earlier breeding in many spring-breeding organisms. However, individuals breeding earlier will also face increased temperature fluctuations, including exposure to potentially harmful cold-temperature regimes during early developmental stages.

Inducible pesticide tolerance in influenced by resource availability.

Pesticides are a ubiquitous contaminant in aquatic ecosystems. Despite the relative sensitivity of aquatic species to pesticides, growing evidence suggests that populations can respond to pesticides by evolving higher baseline tolerance or inducing a higher tolerance via phenotypic plasticity. While both mechanisms can allow organisms to persist when faced with pesticides, resource allocation theory suggests that tolerance may be related to resource acquisition by the organism.