Blog Response to Oct. 15

 Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of an organism to alter its phenotype in response to the environment without altering its genotype.

In "The Genetic Basis of Adaptation following Plastic Changes in Coloration in a Novel Environment," a study was done on lizards that live on lava rocks. When on these lava rocks, the lizards expressed a dark color that was similar to that of the lava rock. However, researchers found that when taken off the lava rocks and put into sand, the lizard's expressed a lighter color in response to the change of substrate. 

Additionally, the researchers compared the lava rock lizards to lizards not living on the lava rocks. They found that both groups of lizards expressed dark phenotypes when on the rocks. However, the lizards that already lived on those rocks had a darker phenotype than those who did not. When placed on the sand, researchers found that both groups of lizards expressed the same color of lightness. 

Phenotypic plasticity is what allows these lizards to express a different color in response to the color of the substrates they're on, which allows for better camouflage. 

Comments

  1. Morgan PringnitzOctober 26, 2020 at 12:08 PM

    Hi Jessica! We both picked out that in the article they saw that the lizards living on the lava rocks expressed a dark color that matched the lava rocks and also saw that if they moved the non-living lava rocks lizards to the lava rocks that they would then have the expression of the darker phenotype too. That is so crazy how that happens!!

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  2. Aubree Van MeterOctober 26, 2020 at 3:33 PM

    Hi Jessica!
    It is so cool how phenotypic plasticity is what allows these lizards to express a different color in response to their environment. Something that these researches also hypothesized is that this species of lizard has been able to match their phenotype to their substrate before the lava rocks even got to that location! Super cool!! Great job!

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  3. DelaneyOctober 27, 2020 at 8:11 PM

    Hi Jessica! It's interesting that the lizards can change color based on substrate and seems strange that one set of lizards are darker than the other. The researchers found that there was a difference in gene expression between the two sets of lizards that allowed the lava lizards to be darker!

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