Topic
Developmental plasticity
About: Developmental plasticity is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1721 publications have been published within this topic receiving 103438 citations.
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TL;DR: Emerging research suggests that many of the features of canonical 'postsynaptic' plasticity, such as associativity, structural changes and bidirectionality, also characterize long-term presynaptic plasticity.
40 citations
TL;DR: The emerging image of the NMDA receptor complex reminds us that the similarity between mechanisms of plasticity in various model systems is greater than their apparent differences.
40 citations
40 citations
TL;DR: It is found that larval nutrition and diapause status affected M. rotundata adult female reproductive behavior and nutritionally regulated plasticity may have been an ancestral condition in all bees that facilitated the evolution of other forms of phenotypic plasticity, such as the castes of social bees.
Abstract: Phenotypic plasticity involves adaptive responses to predictable environmental fluctuations and may promote evolutionary change. We studied the regulation of phenotypic plasticity in an important agricultural pollinator, the solitary alfalfa leafcutting bee (Megachile rotundata F.). Specifically, we investigated how larval nutrition affects M. rotundata diapause plasticity and how diapause plasticity affects adult female reproductive behavior. Field surveys and laboratory manipulations of aspects of larval diet demonstrated nutritional regulation of M. rotundata diapause plasticity. Manipulation of larval diet quality through the addition of royal jelly, the caste-determining substance of the honey bee Apis mellifera L., increased the probability of diapause in M. rotundata. We also found that larval nutrition and diapause status affected M. rotundata adult female reproductive behavior. Nutritional effects on larval diapause that also impact adult fitness have intriguing implications for the evolution of developmental plasticity in bees. In particular, as the solitary lifestyle of M. rotundata is considered to be the ancestral condition in bees, nutritionally regulated plasticity may have been an ancestral condition in all bees that facilitated the evolution of other forms of phenotypic plasticity, such as the castes of social bees.
40 citations
TL;DR: This work considers brain plasticity and its functional and structural consequences from an evolutionary perspective, discussing cases of adaptive and maladaptive Plasticity and using examples from typical and atypical development.
Abstract: Evolutionary concepts such as adaptation and maladaptation have been used by neuroscientists to explain brain properties and mechanisms. In particular, one of the most compelling characteristics of the brain, known as neuroplasticity, denotes the ability of the brain to continuously adapt its functional and structural organization to changing requirements. Although brain plasticity has evolved to favor adaptation, there are cases in which the same mechanisms underlying adaptive plasticity can turn into maladaptive changes. Here, we will consider brain plasticity and its functional and structural consequences from an evolutionary perspective, discussing cases of adaptive and maladaptive plasticity and using examples from typical and atypical development.
40 citations