Read Seasonal Forms as Plasticity
Phenotypic plasticity lets one genotype produce different phenotypes under different environmental conditions.
Phenotypic Plasticity is the central idea in this question pattern. Identify the condition in the stem before applying the method below.
Connect environment to form
In Bicyclus anynana, larval temperature cues seasonal adult forms. Cooler development produces the brown, less-spotted dry-season form; warmer development produces the more prominently spotted wet-season form. Environment-sensitive developmental expression changes the adult pattern.
Read temperature-triggered seasonal form
Cooler development produces the brown, less-spotted dry-season form; warmer development produces the conspicuously spotted wet-season form. The wet-season eye spots can reduce bird predation. This is plasticity, not a new allele. Choose A and C.
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- ✓One species can develop different seasonal phenotypes.
- ✓Cooler larval conditions → dry-season form.
- ✓Warmer conditions → conspicuous wet-season eye spots.
- ✓Environmental temperature can alter seasonal phenotype through development.
An environmentally induced phenotype is not necessarily a new inherited allele.
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