University of Windsor, School of Computer Science, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Avenue, Windsor, ON N9B 3P4, Canada.
University of Windsor, Department of Biology, 401 Sunset Avenue, Windsor, ON N9B 3P4, Canada.
J Theor Biol. 2018 Dec 14;459:52-66. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2018.09.019. Epub 2018 Sep 21.
There are three non-mutually-exclusive key strategies evolved by gene pools to cope with fluctuating food resource availability, including evolutionary adaptation, phenotypic plasticity, and migration. We focus primarily on evolutionary adaptation and behavioral plasticity, which is a type of phenotypic plasticity, resulting in life-history changes as ways of dealing with fluctuations in food resource availability. Using EcoSim, a predator-prey individual-based model, we compare individuals with stable food resources with those in environments where there are fluctuating food resources in terms of adaptation through behavioral plasticity and evolution. The purpose of our study is to determine whether evolution and behavioral plasticity truly play a role in adapting to an environment with fluctuating food resources, as well as to determine whether there are specific gene divergences between gene pools in fluctuating food resource environments versus gene pools where food resources are relatively stable. An important result of our study is that individuals in environments that are unstable with respect to food resource availability exhibited significant differences in behaviors versus those in environments with stable food resources. Although behavioral plasticity facilitates a rapid response to unstable food conditions, our study revealed the evolution of perceptual traits such as vision range in reaction to fluctuating food resources, indicating the importance of evolution in adapting to unstable resource environments in the long run. Moreover, using decision trees, we found that there were significant behavioral gene divergences between individuals in environments with fluctuating food resources as opposed to individuals in environments with stable food resources.
有三种非相互排斥的关键策略是由基因库进化而来，以应对不断变化的食物资源可利用性，包括进化适应、表型可塑性和迁移。我们主要关注进化适应和行为可塑性，这是一种表型可塑性，导致生活史变化，作为应对食物资源可利用性波动的方式。我们使用基于个体的捕食者-猎物 EcoSim 模型，比较了具有稳定食物资源的个体与在食物资源波动环境中的个体，比较了它们通过行为可塑性和进化的适应能力。我们研究的目的是确定进化和行为可塑性是否真的在适应食物资源波动的环境中发挥作用，以及在食物资源相对稳定的环境中与食物资源波动的环境中的基因库之间是否存在特定的基因分歧。我们研究的一个重要结果是，在食物资源可利用性不稳定的环境中的个体与在食物资源稳定的环境中的个体相比，表现出显著不同的行为。虽然行为可塑性促进了对不稳定食物条件的快速反应，但我们的研究揭示了感知特征（如视觉范围）的进化，以应对波动的食物资源，这表明进化在长期适应不稳定的资源环境中的重要性。此外，使用决策树，我们发现食物资源波动环境中的个体与食物资源稳定环境中的个体之间存在显著的行为基因分歧。
