Modeling the Multiple Matching Mechanisms in Heterogeneous Environments

• Applicant: Peter Nabutanyi, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Evolution, Anthropology ; Bioinformatics and Theoretical Biology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 567158919

While many models explain trait adaptation in uniform environments, our understanding of adaptation in heterogeneous environments is still developing. Adaptation to a heterogeneous environment can occur through a change in the phenotype, a change in environment, or both. That is, organisms can enhance their fitness by modifying their local environment, referred to as "habitat construction", moving to a new environment, referred to as “habitat choice”, or changing their phenotype. While models of single adaptation mechanisms have rapidly increased, models that look at multiple mechanisms are rare. The few models clearly reveal that these mechanisms do not evolve independently. Instead, they interact closely, each offering distinct solutions to the same fundamental challenge of enhancing the alignment between an organism's phenotype and its environment. Adaptation from the three mechanisms, i.e., change in phenotype, habitat construction, and habitat choice, may involve fixed traits, responsive traits, or both. With fixed traits, we refer to traits that arise due to organismal standard development without a non-genetic input, while responsive traits refer to traits that arise as a response to external factors. For a change in phenotype, the responsive part refers to a well-studied phenomenon of phenotypic plasticity, while the fixed part refers to standard organismal trait development. Habitat construction and choice can also have both fixed and responsive components. Given the fundamental distinction between adaptation involving fixed traits and adaptation involving responding traits, and to better understand the general adaptation phenomenon, we need to apply and investigate this distinction of adaptation via fixed or responsive traits categorically across all three adaptation mechanisms. To the best of my knowledge, there are no published models where all three mechanisms jointly evolve.This proposal, therefore, has two main research objectives. (a) How do the three mechanisms of adaptation jointly evolve and coexist? Where and when do we expect to see each of the three mechanisms of adaptation operate? and (b) How does one mechanism invade a system with another established mechanism? Under what conditions can a mechanism(s) invade and establish itself in a system where another mechanism(s) has already been established?

• DFG Programme: WBP Fellowship
• International Connection: Spain
• Host: Professor Pim Edelaar, Ph.D.