Environment-dependent trade-offs and limits of phenotypic plasticity

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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.