PLants often show a higher degree of pehnotypic plasticity in terms of morphology tha do animals. reason why?

Question

another question: some traits show no phenotypic plasticity, even though it seems that it would always be advatageous to be able to respond to enviornmental cues. why do u think some traits are not plastic?

(please guys...need help....even though i have some idea....i am not sure the explanation is quite right....so if u guys could help me out..would be great in better understandin my bio lab .....thanxx a lottt..every1)

Answer 1

Here are a couple of ideas:

Phenotypic plasticity refers to the differences between individuals that all have similar genotypes or genetic information. When you're talking about morphology, you are observing the actually structure of an organism. So plants show phenotypic plasticity when they grow their roots toward a nutrient source or when they have longer internodes (stem sections between leaves or branches) when they grow in the shade. Animals show phenotypic plasticity when, for example, barnacles that live in swift water have shorter appendages for gathering food or when tadpoles with more predators have smaller bodies and broader tails (presumably for quicker escapes?)

1. Animals have some parts that can't really have a high degree of variation. As an example, brains, eyes, hands, and wings must physically fall within certain physical limits in order to function appropriately. There is much more leeway in plants to have differently shaped stems or roots than brains or eyeballs with different structures.

2. Animals can deal with environmental stressors by means of behavior. Animals can run away, run toward, hibernate, or otherwise evade stressors. Plants are pretty much stuck where they are and must alter their structure to survive whatever the situation calls for.

The traits which are not plastic must be those, like brain structure, which are already best-suited and would not work well with much of a variation.

Answer 2

One of the difficulties encountered when confronting phenotypic plasticity is that of biodiversity conservation . An organism that has used phenotypic plasticity to adapt to a unique environment may not be genetically different than its cousin in the next pond over, BUT it has the potential to evolve into a different species. In other words, you may protect a particular species, but that doesn't guarantee that future species will be protected. So one is faced with the question of whether one should protect a genetically distinct organism and/or protect a unique environment where expression of an alternate phenotype may lead to the emergence of a new type of beast altogether. Thanks for the great question.

Answer 3

Do you not think a sessile organism could have more morphological types than an organism that is motile? The constraints physical would limit the motile organism, compared to the sessile organism.
Phenotypic plasticity is limited. Think of of your response to the environmental cue, "cold" and how you shake to generate heat. What if the temperature went to 50 degrees below? Could you grow a warm fur coat to counter such a precipitous drop in temperature?

Answer 4

PLants often show a higher degree of pehnotypic plasticity in terms of morphology tha do animals. reason why?
- because plants are not able to move around like most animals are.. since they cant move they have to be able to adapt to their suroundings easier than animals who can move to a different location if the enviroment is not in their favor