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Robustness and Polyphenisms in Mammals: “Core Processes,” “Repatterning,” “Constrained Variation,” and “Regulatory Logic”

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Robustness, Plasticity, and Evolvability in Mammals

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Evolutionary Biology ((BRIEFSEVOLUTION))

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Abstract

Plasticity is the ancestral, robustness the derived, state. Phenotypic plasticity may be graded (reaction norm) or discrete (polyphenism). This section proposes and provides supporting arguments for the utility of designing a laboratory and field research program modeled after Flück’s (J Exp Biol 209:2239–2248, 2006) neuroethological laboratory project. The neotropical atelids, in particular, the genus, Alouatta (howler monkeys) is advanced as a promising model for studies at all levels of organism function. Examples from the empirical literature on howler monkeys as well as dissection and diagnosis of morphological patterns targeting the neck in carnivores and primates are discussed relative to regulatory feedback and functional significance of robustness and plasticity, including the role of “rapid evolution” as a mechanism favoring adaptations for communication in fluctuating regimes. Flexible social structure, exemplified by mantled howler monkey (A. palliata) subgroups, provides an additional case study of biophysical economy (thermal tolerance effects) in heterogeneous “patches” for exploitation of limiting resources convertible to offspring.

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    Clara B. Jones

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Jones, C.B. (2012). Robustness and Polyphenisms in Mammals: “Core Processes,” “Repatterning,” “Constrained Variation,” and “Regulatory Logic”. In: Robustness, Plasticity, and Evolvability in Mammals. SpringerBriefs in Evolutionary Biology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3885-4_4

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