Evolutionary physiology

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Natural and sexual selection are often presumed to act most directly on behavior (e.g., what an animal chooses to do when confronted by a predator), which is expressed within limits set by whole-organism performance abilities (e.g., how fast it can run) that are determined by subordinate traits (e.g., muscle fiber-type composition). A weakness of this conceptual and operational model is the absence of an explicit recognition of the place of life history traits. Phenotypic Hierarchy 1.svg
Natural and sexual selection are often presumed to act most directly on behavior (e.g., what an animal chooses to do when confronted by a predator), which is expressed within limits set by whole-organism performance abilities (e.g., how fast it can run) that are determined by subordinate traits (e.g., muscle fiber-type composition). A weakness of this conceptual and operational model is the absence of an explicit recognition of the place of life history traits.

Evolutionary physiology is the study of the biological evolution of physiological structures and processes; that is, the manner in which the functional characteristics of organisms have responded to natural selection or sexual selection or changed by random genetic drift across multiple generations during the history of a population or species. [2] It is a sub-discipline of both physiology and evolutionary biology. Practitioners in the field come from a variety of backgrounds, including physiology, evolutionary biology, ecology, and genetics.

Contents

Accordingly, the range of phenotypes studied by evolutionary physiologists is broad, including life history traits, behavior, whole-organism performance, [3] [4] functional morphology, biomechanics, anatomy, classical physiology, endocrinology, biochemistry, and molecular evolution. The field is closely related to comparative physiology, ecophysiology, and environmental physiology, and its findings are a major concern of evolutionary medicine. One definition that has been offered is "the study of the physiological basis of fitness, namely, correlated evolution (including constraints and trade-offs) of physiological form and function associated with the environment, diet, homeostasis, energy management, longevity, and mortality and life history characteristics". [5]

History

As the name implies, evolutionary physiology is the product of a merger between two distinct scientific disciplines. According to Garland and Carter, [2] evolutionary physiology arose in the late 1970s, following debates concerning the metabolic and thermoregulatory status of dinosaurs (see physiology of dinosaurs) and mammal-like reptiles.

This period was followed by attempts in the early 1980s to integrate quantitative genetics into evolutionary biology, which had spillover effects on other fields, such as behavioral ecology and ecophysiology. In the mid- to late 1980s, phylogenetic comparative methods started to become popular in many fields, including physiological ecology and comparative physiology. A 1987 volume titled New Directions in Ecological Physiology [6] had little ecology [7] but a considerable emphasis on evolutionary topics. It generated vigorous debate, and within a few years the National Science Foundation had developed a panel titled Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology.

Shortly thereafter, selection experiments and experimental evolution became increasingly common in evolutionary physiology. Macrophysiology has emerged as a sub-discipline, in which practitioners attempt to identify large-scale patterns in physiological traits (e.g. patterns of co-variation with latitude) and their ecological implications. [8] [9] [10]

More recently, the importance of evolutionary physiology has been argued from the perspective of functional analyses, epigenetics, and an extended evolutionary synthesis. [11] The growth of evolutionary physiology is also reflected in the emergence of sub-disciplines, such as evolutionary biomechanics [12] [13] and evolutionary endocrinology, [14] [15] which addresses such hybrid questions as "What are the most common endocrine mechanisms that respond to selection on behavior or life-history traits?" [16]

Emergent properties

As a hybrid scientific discipline, evolutionary physiology provides some unique perspectives. For example, an understanding of physiological mechanisms can help in determining whether a particular pattern of phenotypic variation or co-variation (such as an allometric relationship) represents what could possibly exist or just what selection has allowed. [2] [17] [18] Similarly, a thorough knowledge of physiological mechanisms can greatly enhance understanding of possible reasons for evolutionary correlations and constraints than is possible for many of the traits typically studied by evolutionary biologists (such as morphology).

Areas of research

Important areas of current research include:

Techniques

Funding and societies

In the United States, research in evolutionary physiology is funded mainly by the National Science Foundation. A number of scientific societies feature sections that encompass evolutionary physiology, including:

Journals that frequently publish articles about evolutionary physiology

See also

Related Research Articles

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Experimental evolution is the use of laboratory experiments or controlled field manipulations to explore evolutionary dynamics. Evolution may be observed in the laboratory as individuals/populations adapt to new environmental conditions by natural selection.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kleiber's law</span> Approximate power law relating animal metabolic rate to mass

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allometry</span> Study of the relationship of body size to shape, anatomy, physiology, and behavior

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phenotypic plasticity</span> Trait change of an organism in response to environmental variation

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Biological constraints are factors which make populations resistant to evolutionary change. One proposed definition of constraint is "A property of a trait that, although possibly adaptive in the environment in which it originally evolved, acts to place limits on the production of new phenotypic variants." Constraint has played an important role in the development of such ideas as homology and body plans.

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Organismal performance refers to the ability of an organism to conduct a task when maximally motivated. Various aspects of performance are of primary concern in human athletics, horse racing, and dog racing. Performance in swimming tasks has been a subject of fisheries research since the 1960s. In a broader biological context, the term first came to prominence with studies of locomotor abilities in lizards and snakes in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

References

  1. ↑ Khan, R. H.; J. S. Rhodes; I. A. Girardd; N. E. Schwartz; T. Garland, Jr. (2024). "Does behavior evolve first? Correlated responses to selection for voluntary wheel-running behavior in house mice". Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology. 97 (2): 97–117. doi:10.1086/730153. PMID   38728689.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Garland, T. Jr.; P. A. Carter (1994). "Evolutionary physiology" (PDF). Annual Review of Physiology. 56: 579–621. doi:10.1146/annurev.ph.56.030194.003051. PMID   8010752.
  3. ↑ Arnold, S. J. (1983). "Morphology, performance and fitness" (PDF). American Zoologist. 23 (2): 347–361. doi: 10.1093/icb/23.2.347 .
  4. ↑ Careau, V. C.; T. Garland, Jr. (2012). "Performance, personality, and energetics: correlation, causation, and mechanism" (PDF). Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. 85 (6): 543–571. doi:10.1086/666970. hdl: 10536/DRO/DU:30056093 . PMID   23099454. S2CID   16499109.
  5. ↑ Lovegrove, B. G. (2006). "The power of fitness in mammals: perceptions from the African slipstream". Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. 79 (2): 224–236. doi:10.1086/499994. PMID   16555182. S2CID   24536395.
  6. ↑ Feder, M. E.; A. F. Bennett; W. W. Burggren; R. B. Huey, eds. (1987). New directions in ecological physiology. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN   978-0-521-34938-3.
  7. ↑ Kingsolver, J. G (1988). "Evolutionary physiology: Where's the ecology? A review of New Directions in Ecological physiology, Feder et al. 1987". Ecology. 69 (5): 1645–1646. doi:10.2307/1941674. JSTOR   1941674.
  8. ↑ Chown, S. L.; K. J. Gaston; D. Robinson (2004). "Macrophysiology: large-scale patterns in physiological traits and their ecological implications". Functional Ecology. 18 (2): 159–167. Bibcode:2004FuEco..18..159C. doi: 10.1111/j.0269-8463.2004.00825.x .
  9. ↑ Gaston, K. J.; Chown, S. L.; Calosi, P.; Bernardo, J.; Bilton, D. T.; Clarke, A.; Clusella-Trullas, S.; Ghalambor, C. K.; Konarzewski, M.; Peck, L. S.; Porter, W. P.; Pörtner, H. O.; Rezende, E. L.; Schulte, P. M.; Spicer, J. I.; Stillman, J. H.; Terblanche, J. S.; van Kleunen, M. (2009). "Macrophysiology: a conceptual reunification" (PDF). The American Naturalist. 174 (5): 595–612. doi:10.1086/605982. hdl: 10019.1/119921 . PMID   19788354. S2CID   6239591.
  10. ↑ Chown, S. L.; Gaston, K. J. (2015). "Macrophysiology - progress and prospects". Functional Ecology. 30 (3): 330–344. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.12510 .
  11. ↑ Noble, D.; Jablonka, E.; Joyner, M. J.; Müller, G. B.; Omholt, S. W. (2014). "Evolution evolves: physiology returns to centre stage". The Journal of Physiology. 592 (11): 2237–2244. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2014.273151. PMC   4048083 . PMID   24882808.
  12. ↑ Taylor, G.; A. Thomas (2014). Evolutionary biomechanics: selection, phylogeny, and constraint. Oxford: Offord Univ. Press. ISBN   978-0-19-177945-9.
  13. ↑ Broyde, S.; Dempsey, M.; Wang, L.; Cox, P. G.; Fagan, M.; Bates, K. T. (2021). "Evolutionary biomechanics: hard tissues and soft evidence?". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 288 (1945): 20202809. doi:10.1098/rspb.2020.2809. PMC   7935025 . PMID   33593183.
  14. ↑ Zera, A. J.; Harshman, L. G.; Williams, T. D. (2007). "Evolutionary endocrinology: the developing synthesis between endocrinology and evolutionary genetics". Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics. 38: 793–817. doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.38.091206.095615. S2CID   33272127.
  15. ↑ Cox, R. M.; McGlothlin, J. W.; Bonier, F. (2016). "Hormones as mediators of phenotypic and genetic integration: an evolutionary genetics approach". Integrative and Comparative Biology. 56 (2): 126–137. doi: 10.1093/icb/icw033 . PMID   27252188.
  16. ↑ Garland, T. Jr.; Zhao, M.; Saltzman, W. (2016). "Hormones and the evolution of complex traits: insights from artificial selection on behavior". Integrative and Comparative Biology. 56 (2): 207–224. doi:10.1093/icb/icw040. PMC   5964798 . PMID   27252193.
  17. ↑ Weber, K. E. (1990). "Selection on wing allometry in Drosophila melanogaster". Genetics. 126 (4): 975–989. doi:10.1093/genetics/126.4.975. PMC   1204293 . PMID   2127580.
  18. ↑ Bolstad, G. H.; et, al (2015). "Complex constraints on allometry revealed by artificial selection on the wing of Drosophila melanogaster". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (43): 13284–13289. Bibcode:2015PNAS..11213284B. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1505357112 . hdl: 11250/2463865 . PMC   4629349 . PMID   26371319.
  19. ↑ Crawford, D.L.; P. M. Schulte; A. Whitehead; M. F. Oleksiak (2020). "Evolutionary physiology and genomics in the highly adaptable killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus)". Comprehensive Physiology. 10 (2): 637–671. doi:10.1002/cphy.c190004. ISBN   978-0-470-65071-4. PMID   32163195.
  20. ↑ Garland, T. Jr.; S. C. Adolph (1991). "Physiological differentiation of vertebrate populations" (PDF). Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics. 22: 193–228. doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.22.1.193. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-16. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
  21. ↑ Kelly, S. A.; T. Panhuis; A. Stoehr (2012). "Phenotypic plasticity: molecular mechanisms and adaptive significance". Comprehensive Physiology. 2 (2): 1417–1439. doi:10.1002/cphy.c110008. ISBN   9780470650714. PMID   23798305.
  22. ↑ Bacigalupe, L. D.; F. Bozinovic (2002). "Animal design and sustained metabolic rate". Journal of Experimental Biology. 205 (Pt 19): 2963–2970. doi:10.1242/jeb.205.19.2963. PMID   12200400.
  23. ↑ Padian, K.; de Ricqlès, A. (2020). "Inferring the physiological regimes of extinct vertebrates: methods, limits and framework". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 6 (1793): 20190147. doi:10.1098/rstb.2019.0147. PMC   7017439 . PMID   31928190.
  24. ↑ Rezende, E. L.; Bacigalupe, L. D.; Nespolo, L. D.; Bozinovic, L. D. (2020). "Shrinking dinosaurs and the evolution of endothermy in birds". Science Advances. 6 (1): eaaw4486. Bibcode:2020SciA....6.4486R. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaw4486. PMC   6938711 . PMID   31911937.
  25. ↑ Araújo, R.; et, al (2022). "Inner ear biomechanics reveals a Late Triassic origin for mammalian endothermy". Nature. 607 (7920): 726–731. Bibcode:2022Natur.607..726A. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-04963-z. PMID   35859179.
  26. ↑ Bennett, A. F.; R. E. Lenski (1999). "Experimental evolution and its role in evolutionary physiology" (PDF). American Zoologist. 39 (2): 346–362. doi: 10.1093/icb/39.2.346 .
  27. ↑ Gibbs, A. G. (1999). "Laboratory selection for the comparative physiologist". Journal of Experimental Biology. 202 (20): 2709–2718. doi:10.1242/jeb.202.20.2709. PMID   10504307.
  28. ↑ Irschick, D. J.; J. J. Meyers; J. F. Husak; J.-F. Le Galliard (2008). "How does selection operate on whole-organism functional performance capacities? A review and synthesis" (PDF). Evolutionary Ecology Research. 10: 177–196. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.371.8464 . ISSN   0003-1569. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-09. Retrieved 2009-01-22.
  29. ↑ Garland, T. Jr.; A. F. Bennett; E. L. Rezende (2005). "Phylogenetic approaches in comparative physiology" (PDF). Journal of Experimental Biology. 208 (Pt 16): 3015–3035. doi: 10.1242/jeb.01745 . PMID   16081601. S2CID   14871059.
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