Functional and Evolutionary Ecology of a Phenotypically Plastic Feeding Morphology

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The ability of organisms to change their form in response to short-term changes in the environment is called phenotypic plasticity. This research will examine a group of closely related species (snails) which have been found to have the ability to change their form in response to short term changes in their diet. The PI will be studying snails on both the Atlantic and Pacific shores of North America, and in Australia. The goals of this research are to use computer modeling, field observations and experiments, controlled laboratory experiments, advanced microscopy techniques, and genetics experiments to determine whether the ability to change form is advantageous to individuals, and to determine how widespread this ability is among species. By looking at a wide range of species the PI will be able to determine if there are associations between the ability to be phenotypically plastic and reproductive patterns, diet and habitat, risk of predation, or other ecological features of these species. This work will provide important information about what makes some species able to respond to short-term changes in the environment (be phenotypically plastic) and some species not (have fixed, genetically determined forms). In addition, the results of this work should help the PIs begin to predict the environmental situations and species characteristics where the PIs would expect phenotypic plasticity to be present, and when the PIs would predict that it should not, where species should have fixed morphologies.