Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science pp 1–4Cite as

Adaptive Plasticity

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

Synonyms

(Adaptive) Phenotypic plasticity; Developmental plasticity; Flexibility; Malleability

Definition

Property of a given genotype to produce different phenotypes depending on different environmental conditions, thereby enhancing organisms’ fitness.

Introduction

The relationship between organism and environment is highly dynamical and can be thought of as a trade-off between the demands imposed by the environment and the organism’s adjustments to those demands. On the one hand, the environments change; on the other hand, organisms fit the requirements posed by the new conditions “in the struggle for life.” Phenotypic plasticity, the capacity of a genotype to give rise to different phenotypes in response to different environmental conditions, is crucial if organisms are to adapt to new environments. Adaptive plasticity is simply the phenotypic plasticity that enhances the organisms’ fitness.

Although plasticity has been known for over a century, until recently it was taken to be...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Baldwin, J. M. (1896). A new factor in evolution. American Naturalist, 30, 441–451, 536–553.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bateson, P., & Gluckman, P. (2011). Plasticity, robustness, development and evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • DeWitt, T. J., Sih, A., & Wilson, D. S. (1998). Costs and limits of phenotypic plasticity. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 13, 77–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forsman, A. (2015). Rethinking phenotypic plasticity and its consequences for individuals, populations and species. Heredity, 115, 276–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longa, V. M. (2005). A misconception about the Baldwin Effect: Implications for language evolution. Folia Linguistica, 40, 305–318.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pigliucci, M. (2001). Phenotypic plasticity. Beyond nature and nurture. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sultan, S. E. (2015). Organism and environment. Ecological development, niche construction, and adaptation. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sultan, S. E. (2017). Developmental plasticity: Re-conceiving the genotype. Interface Focus, 7, 20170009. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2017.0009.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Weber, B. H., & Depew, D. J. (Eds.). (2003). Evolution and learning. The Baldwin Effect reconsidered. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • West-Eberhard, M. J. (2003). Developmental plasticity and evolution. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

This entry has benefitted from a grant of the Spanish Government (Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness) (Ref. FFI2017-87699-P).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Philology, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Víctor M. Longa

Authors
  1. Víctor M. Longa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Víctor M. Longa .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, MI, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA

    Karin Machluf

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Longa, V.M. (2019). Adaptive Plasticity. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2122-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2122-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation