Abstract
This book started with a review of how organisms change genetically, because genetic variability provides the raw material for evolution.
The known facts of development and of natural history make it patently clear that genes do not determine individuals nor do environments determine species.
R. Lewontin, 1983, p. 276.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Extended mainly from MacArthur and Levins (1964), Levins (1968). Grain refers to size and/or duration of environmental patch relative to size and activity of the organism or species. With increasing size and motility of organism, coarse-grained environments may become fine-grained, and some fine-grained environments may become inconsequential (limiting case: all individuals experience same variation, no uncertainty; Levins (1969, p. 3). See also McArthur and Connell (1966), McArthur and Pianka (1966).
- 2.
Interestingly, some plant pathogens are also dimorphic and at least one of these is very closely related to a human pathogen. Strains of the fungi Ophiostoma novo-ulmi and O. ulmi cause the famous Dutch elm disease, the characteristic wilt symptoms of which are attributable in part to masses of budding, yeast-like spores produced by the pathogen in the water-conducting vessels of the tree (see Sidebar in Chap. 4 and Fig 4.13). The fungus in this phase is morphologically very similar to members of the genus Sporothrix, so much so that decades ago this state came to be known informally as the “Sporothrix stage” of Dutch elm disease (Agrios 2005, pp. 528–532). The dimorphic human pathogen causing sporotrichosis is Sporothrix schenkii (Dixon and Salkin 1991). Berbee and Taylor (1992) show by 18S rRNA sequence methods that, phylogenetically, S. schenckii is a member of the Ophiostoma genus and very closely related to the Dutch elm disease fungus (as well as to O. stenoceras).
- 3.
What has become known as bet-hedging in effect was outlined originally in mathematical, population genetics terms by Gillespie (1974). He drew attention to the importance of spreading offspring across clutches in a breeding season (thereby reducing variance in offspring number) as opposed to putting all of them in the same large clutch. Slatkin (1974) then used the term in generalizing Gillespie’s model in a brief, conceptual paper. Bet-hedging has since been embellished extensively and used more-or-less strictly by various authors (see e.g., de Jong et al. 2011). For relevant details see the cited papers in the text and references therein.
- 4.
Note that persistence is a transient phenotype and distinct from conventional drug resistance attributable to genetic mutation discussed at length in Chap. 2. Persisters regrow when the antibiotic is withdrawn and the resulting population consists of approximately the same fraction of persisters as did the original population and is of identical antibiotic sensitivity. Also note that persistence is related to but distinct from the ‘viable but uncultivable’ bacterial condition described in Chap. 6: Persisters recover and resume growth from a dormant state when the stressor is removed; noncultivable microbes by definition at least presumptively cannot be cultured.
- 5.
Not surprisingly, this simplistic assertion, still hotly debated, grossly overstates the case. While the environment undoubtedly selects, microbial distribution is nonrandom over all levels of scale. For expansion of these points, see Martiny et al. (2006), de Wit and Bouvier (2006), Hanson et al. (2012).
Suggested Additional Reading
Bonner, J.T. 1988. The Evolution of Complexity by Means of Natural Selection. Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, NJ. How increase in size and complexity of organisms has evolved, and implications for environment-organism interaction.
Carroll, S.B., J.K. Grenier, and S.D. Weatherbee. 2005. From DNA to Diversity: Molecular Genetics and the Evolution of Animal Design, 2nd ed. Blackwell, Malden, MA. A clearly written, beautifully illustrated book on animal development, including the seminal role of gene regulation as the major creative force underlying morphological innovations.
Lewontin, R. 2000. The Triple Helix: Gene, Organism, and Environment. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. A reminder that organisms both make and are made by their environments. Organisms are not simply constructed from a DNA recipe.
Peter, I.S. and E.H. Davidson. 2015. Genomic Control Process: Development and Evolution. Academic Press (Elsevier), NY. A comprehensive, readable, timely overview of genomic regulatory systems in animal development.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Andrews, J.H. (2017).
The Environment.
In: Comparative Ecology of Microorganisms and Macroorganisms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6897-8_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6897-8_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-6895-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-6897-8
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)