Previous Talks

Anieke Brombacher

University of Southampton, UK

November 22, 2022

Developmental plasticity in the fossil record: a case study of planktonic foraminifera

Developmental plasticity, the process where a single genotype can produce multiple phenotypes depending on the environment, increases phenotypic variation available for selection. However, its effects on long-term evolution are poorly understood because most fossils don’t preserve their developmental stages. Foraminifera are an exception: they preserve their entire ontogeny, and their shell chemistry reflects the environment they grew in. Using ecological models, three-dimensional growth parameters and environmental reconstructions, we show that both internal constraints and environmental fluctuations influence shell size and shape in three closely related species. All species respond differently, suggesting that the speciation process overrides internal constraints.