Development Strategies and Biodiversity: Darwinian Fitness and Evolution in the Anthropocene (Fascinating Life Sciences)

Development is a complex and highly dynamic process involving the cross talk among genes, maternal effects and environmental circumstances. Widespread evidence from plant to animal species show that variation in developmental conditions can modulate life history trajectories and influence key traits, such as growth, reproduction, and senescence. These effects are not limited to a single generation but can also be passed on future generations. This book aims to bring together studies of early life effects from the fields of evolutionary biology, global change biology, and biomedicine to synthesise and improve current knowledge of the mechanisms involved, and how variation in early life conditions translates into Darwinian fitness outcomes. Relying on examples of organisms’ responses to the ongoing and future environmental challenges of the Anthropocene, this book takes a novel approach to address the adaptive meaning of early life effects. The book has a broad scientific approach, targeting eco-evolutionary biologists, behavioural biologists, eco-physiologists, eco-toxicologists, as well as epidemiologists and biomedical scientists. Preface Contents Part I: Evolutionary Meaning of Development: How and Why Early Life Experience Generate Diversity Chapter 1: More than Fifty Shades of Epigenetics for the Study of Early in Life Effects in Medicine, Ecology, and Evolution 1.1 Introduction 1.2 The Developmental Understanding of Epigenetics 1.3 The Evolutionary Understanding of Epigenetics 1.4 The Deep Nature of Epigenetics Under These Two Understandings 1.4.1 The Four Major Timescales of DNA Packaging Affecting Gene Expression 1.4.2 A Parallel with the Study of Proteins 1.4.3 Epigenetics: The Science of the 3D or Even 4D Structure of DNA 1.5 The Inclusive Understanding of Epigenetics 1.5.1 Injecting Eco-Evolutionary Concepts into Epigenetics 1.5.2 An Inclusive Definition of Epigenetics 1.5.3 We Need an Inclusive Rather than Only an Extended Evolutionary Synthesis 1.6 A Practical Taxonomy of Epigenetics 1.6.1 Principles of the Classification 1.6.2 Applying this Taxonomy 1.6.3 Potential Applications 1.7 Conclusions Glossary References Chapter 2: For Better or Worse: Benefits and Costs of Transgenerational Plasticity and the Transhormesis Hypothesis 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Transgenerational Plasticity 2.3 Hormesis 2.4 The Transhormesis Hypothesis 2.5 Transhormesis in the Context of Environmental Toxicology 2.6 Modelling Transhormesis 2.7 Perspectives and Future Directions 2.8 Conclusions References Chapter 3: Adaptive Meaning of Early Life Experience in Species that Go Through Metamorphosis 3.1 Overview 3.1.1 Introduction 3.1.2 Metamorphosis Is the Time for Reprogramming 3.1.3 How the Larval Environment Impacts Metamorphosis 3.2 Whole Body Growth and Timing of Metamorphosis 3.2.1 Adaptive Significance of Body Size and Metamorphic Timing 3.2.2 Mediators of Metamorphic Timing and Growth 3.2.2.1 Prothoracicotropic Hormone 3.2.2.2 Ecdysteroids 3.2.2.3 Juvenile Hormone 3.2.2.4 Insulin/Insulin-Like Signaling/TOR Signaling Pathways 3.2.2.5 Interorgan Communication that Coordinates Growth 3.2.3 Effects of Nutrition on Body Size and Developmental Timing 3.2.3.1 Body Size Check Determination in Insects with Abundant Food Source 3.2.3.2 Body Size Check Determination in Insects with Ephemeral Food Source 3.2.3.3 ``Bail Out ́ ́ Strategy 3.2.3.4 JH Mediates Distinct Feeding Ecology of Insects 3.2.4 Effects of Tissue Regeneration on Developmental Timing 3.3 Mediators of Tissue Plasticity 3.4 Tissue Growth Polyphenisms 3.4.1 Insects that Exhibit Sigmoidal Allometries 3.4.1.1 Adaptive Significance 3.4.1.2 Developmental Regulation 3.4.2 Insects with Linear Allometries 3.4.2.1 Adaptive Significance 3.4.2.2 Developmental Regulation 3.4.3 Insects with Overlapping Allometries 3.4.3.1 Adaptive Significance 3.4.3.2 Developmental Regulation 3.4.4 Modularity Facilitates Environmental Sensitivity of Trait Sizes 3.4.5 Butterfly Color Polyphenisms 3.4.5.1 Adaptive Significance 3.4.5.2 Developmental Regulation 3.4.6 Impact of Juvenile Immune Activation on Adult Phenotypes 3.5 Conclusions References Part II: Endogenous Mechanisms Underlying the Interactions Between the Individual and Its Early-Life Environment Chapter 4: Early-Life Stress Drives the Molecular Mechanisms Shaping the Adult Phenotype 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Roles of Developmental System, Timing, and Stressor Type 4.3 Potential Life-Long Mechanisms of Early-Life Stress for Adverse or Positive Organismal Outcomes 4.3.1 Reprogramming of the HPA Axis 4.3.2 Telomere Dynamics and Oxidative Stress 4.3.3 Epigenetic Mechanisms Regulated by Glucocorticoids 4.4 Conclusions and Future Directions References Chapter 5: Environmental Conditions in Early Life, Host Defenses, and Disease in Late Life 5.1 Introduction 5.2 The Immune System Over the Lifespan 5.3 Strategies of Defense 5.4 Trade-Offs Between Immunity, Defense Strategies, and Age-Dependent Disease 5.5 Environmental Modulation of Early Immunity and Carry-Over Effects on Defense Strategies and Age-Associated Diseases 5.5.1 Trophic Resources 5.5.2 Thermal Environment 5.5.3 Pollutions and Contaminants 5.5.4 Early Infection with Pathogens and Parasites 5.6 Conclusion and Future Directions References Chapter 6: Early Life Nutrition and the Programming of the Phenotype 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Proximate Mechanisms Affecting Development and Phenotype 6.2.1 Effects of Developmental Diet on Adult Morphology 6.2.2 Effects of Developmental Diet on Adult Behaviour 6.2.3 Effects of Developmental Diet on Adult Physiology 6.2.3.1 Ontogeny of Control of Food Intake 6.2.3.2 Physiological Consequences of Intake Rates 6.2.4 Nutritional Balance, Diet Composition, and Optimising Development 6.2.4.1 Micronutrients as Limitations 6.3 Developmental Plasticity: Phenotypic Consequences of Nutritional Vulnerability 6.3.1 The Basic Mechanics of Nutritional Influences on Developmental Plasticity 6.3.2 Early Life Nutrition, Critical Windows, and Irreversible Developmental Plasticity 6.3.3 Early Life Nutrition, Sensitive Windows, and Reversible Phenotypic Plasticity 6.3.4 Evolution of Sensitive Windows of Developmental Plasticity: A Nutritional Perspective 6.3.5 Other Modes of Developmental Plasticity Under Nutritional Stress 6.4 Ultimate Impact: Effects on Fitness and Targets for Selection 6.4.1 Nutritional Intake and Longevity 6.4.2 Nutrition-Mediated Trade-Offs Between Longevity and Reproduction 6.4.3 Early Life Nutrition: Adaptive Response or Developmental Constraints? 6.4.4 Transgenerational Impacts of Diet 6.5 Conclusions References Part III: Anthropocene Opens New Horizons to Reveal the Adaptive Meaning of Developmental Plasticity Chapter 7: Adaptive and Maladaptive Consequences of Larval Stressors for Metamorphic and Postmetamorphic Traits and Fitness 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Larval and (Post)Metamorphic Responses to Larval Exposure to Pesticides and Warming 7.3 Coupling of Traits Across Metamorphosis 7.4 Carry-Over Effects of Larval Stressors on Adult Fitness 7.5 Alternative Mechanisms Coupling Larval Stressors to Fitness Across Metamorphosis 7.6 Interactions Between Stressors Across Metamorphosis 7.7 Consequences of Carry-Over Effects of Larval Exposure to Stressors for Biotic Interactions and Nutrient Fluxes Across Meta... 7.8 Conclusions and Future Directions References Chapter 8: Plastic Aliens: Developmental Plasticity and the Spread of Invasive Species 8.1 Biological Invasion 8.2 The Good of Being Plastic 8.2.1 Introduction into a New Environment 8.2.2 The New Biotic Environment 8.2.3 Plasticity in Traits Increasing Population Growth Rate 8.2.4 Plasticity in Traits Associated with Dispersal 8.3 Evolution of Plasticity During Invasion Process 8.4 Conclusion and Future Directions Glossary References Chapter 9: Consequences of Developmental Exposure to Pollution: Importance of Stress-Coping Mechanisms 9.1 A Polluted World 9.1.1 Human Population Growth, Human Activities, and Global Pollution 9.1.2 A Wide Variety of Pollutants 9.1.3 How Can Pollutants Affect Vertebrates? 9.1.4 Importance of the Developmental Period 9.2 The Relevance to Focus on Stress-Coping Mechanisms in the Context of Pollution 9.2.1 Stress-Coping Mechanisms: From Behavior to Endocrine Mechanisms 9.2.2 Stress-Coping Mechanisms: The Target of Pollutants 9.2.3 Stress-Coping Mechanisms: How to Adjust to a Polluted Habitat 9.2.4 Flexibility of Stress-Coping Mechanisms: Importance of the Developmental Period 9.3 Influence of Chemical Pollutants on Stress-Coping Mechanisms: The Example of Lead (Pb) 9.3.1 Developmental Impact of Exposure to Lead on Stress-Coping Mechanisms 9.3.2 Wildlife, Exposure to Lead, and Fitness Consequences? 9.4 Influence of Physical Pollutants on Stress-Coping Mechanisms: The Example of Noise Pollution 9.4.1 What Are the Effects of Noise Pollution on Performance? 9.4.2 Importance of Stress-Coping Mechanisms to Adjust to Noise Pollution 9.5 Perspectives and Future Research Needs 9.5.1 Cumulative and Interactive Effects of Pollutants on Stress-Coping Mechanisms 9.5.2 Hormesis: An Overlooked Mechanism in Wild Vertebrates 9.5.3 Microevolution 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