Environment-dependent trade-offs and limits of phenotypic plasticity

在自然界中，生物体不断面临多种环境，塑料特性的成本的表达和大小有时与环境有关；因此，需要跨多个环境分析成本。我们用青蛙蝌蚪、捕食性蜻蜓幼虫和无诱导剂(仅同种幼虫)，在三种不同的环境中，研究了两种塑料反应(捕食者诱导的和猎物诱导的形态)对迟滞小蜥蜴幼虫的存活、变态时间和变态时的身体大小的利弊。塑料反应的好处是在诱导环境中检测到的，但在交叉环境中成本更大或更容易检测到，例如那些含有蝌蚪或蜻蜓幼虫的环境。在交叉环境中，权衡以组合的形式出现，因此是上下文相关的。

In nature, organisms constantly face multiple environments, and the expression and magnitude of the costs of plastic traits is occasionally context-dependent; therefore, the costs need to be analyzed across multiple environments. We determined the benefits and costs of two plastic responses (predator- and prey-induced morphologies) of larvae of the salamander Hynobius retardatus on larval survival, metamorphic timing, and body size at metamorphosis in three different environments by using frog tadpoles, predatory dragonfly larvae, or no inducer (conspecific larvae only). The benefits of plastic responses were detected in the inducing environments, but the costs were greater or more easily detected in crossover environments, such as those containing tadpoles or dragonfly larvae. The trade-offs appeared in combinations in the crossover environments, and thus were context-dependent.