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opencc-zeroJan 2021View details →

Data from: Trait plasticity and tradeoffs shape intraspecific variation in competitive response in a foundation tree species

<ul> <li>The ability to tolerate neighboring plants (i.e., degree of competitive response) is a key determinant of plant success in high-competition environments. Plant genotypes adjust their functional trait expression under high levels of competition, which may help explain intraspecific variation in competitive response. However, the relationships between traits and competitive response are not well understood, especially in trees. In this study, we investigated among-genotype associations between tree trait plasticity and competitive response. </li> <li>We manipulated competition intensity in experimental stands of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) to address the covariance between competition-induced changes in functional trait expression and aspects of competitive ability at the genotype level. </li> <li>Genotypic variation in the direction and magnitude of functional trait responses, especially those of crown foliar mass, phytochemistry, and leaf physiology, was associated with genotypic variation in competitive response. Traits exhibited distinct plastic responses to competition, with varying degrees of genotypic variation and covariance with other trait responses. </li> <li>The combination of genotypic diversity and covariance among functional traits led to tree responses to competition that were coordinated among traits yet variable among genotypes. Such relationships between tree traits and competitive success have the potential to shape stand-level trait distributions over space and time. </li> </ul>

opencc-zeroDec 2011View details →

Data from: Phenotypic plasticity and adaptive evolution contribute to advancing flowering phenology in response to climate change

Anthropogenic climate change has already altered the timing of major life history transitions, such as the initiation of reproduction. Both phenotypic plasticity and adaptive evolution can underlie rapid phenological shifts in response to climate change but their relative contributions are poorly understood. Here, we combine a continuous 38-year field survey with quantitative genetic field experiments to assess adaptation in the context of climate change. We focused on Boechera stricta (Brassicaeae), a mustard native to the U.S. Rocky Mountains. Flowering phenology advanced significantly from 1973-2011, and was strongly associated with warmer temperatures and earlier snowmelt dates. Strong directional selection favored earlier flowering in contemporary environments (2010-2011). Climate change could drive this directional selection, and promote even earlier flowering as temperatures continue to increase. Our quantitative genetic analyses predict a response to selection of 0.2 to 0.5 days acceleration in flowering per generation, which could account for more than 20% of the phenological change observed in the long-term dataset. However, the strength of directional selection and the predicted evolutionary response are likely much greater now than even 30 years ago because of rapidly changing climatic conditions. We predict that adaptation will likely be necessary for long-term in situ persistence in the context of climate change.

opencc-zeroDec 2010View details →

Data from: Using time series analysis to characterize evolutionary and plastic responses to environmental change: a case study of a shift toward earlier migration date in sockeye salmon

Environmental change can shift the phenotype of an organism through either evolutionary or nongenetic processes. Despite abundant evidence of phenotypic change in response to recent climate change, we typically lack sufficient genetic data to identify the role of evolution. We present a method of using phenotypic data to characterize the hypothesized role of natural selection and environmentally driven phenotypic shifts (plasticity). We modeled historical selection and environmental predictors of interannual variation in mean population phenotype using a multivariate state-space model framework. Through model comparisons, we assessed the extent to which an estimated selection differential explained observed variation better than environmental factors alone. We applied the method to a 60-year trend toward earlier migration in Columbia River sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka, producing estimates of annual selection differentials, average realized heritability, and relative cumulative effects of selection and plasticity. We found that an evolutionary response to thermal selection was capable of explaining up to two-thirds of the phenotypic trend. Adaptive plastic responses to June river flow explain most of the remainder. This method is applicable to other populations with time series data if selection differentials are available or can be reconstructed. This method thus augments our toolbox for predicting responses to environmental change.

opencc-zeroApr 2020View details →

Contribution of genetic versus plastic responses to adaptive patterns in a widespread butterfly along a latitudinal cline

Understanding how organisms adapt to complex environments is a central goal of evolutionary biology and ecology. This issue is of special interest in the current era of rapidly changing climatic conditions. Here, we investigate clinal variation and plastic responses in life history, morphology, and physiology in the butterfly Pieris napi along a pan-European gradient by exposing butterflies raised in captivity to different temperatures. We found clinal variation in body size, growth rates and concomitant development time, wing aspect ratio, wing melanisation, and heat tolerance. Individuals from warmer environments were more heat-tolerant, had less melanised wings and a shorter development but still they were larger than individuals from cooler environments. These findings suggest selection for rapid growth in the warmth and for wing melanisation in the cold, and thus fine-tuned genetic adaptation to local climates. Irrespective of the origin of butterflies, the effects of higher developmental temperature were largely as expected, speeding up development, reducing body size, potential metabolic activity, and wing melanisation, while increasing heat tolerance. At least in part, these patterns likely reflect adaptive phenotypic plasticity. In summary, our study revealed pronounced plastic and genetic responses, which may indicate high adaptive capacities in our study organism. Whether this may help such species though to deal with current climate change needs further investigation, as clinal patterns have typically evolved over long periods.

Data from: Heat tolerance in Drosophila subobscura along a latitudinal gradient: contrasting patterns between plastic and genetic responses

Susceptibility to global warming relies on how thermal tolerances respond to increasing temperatures through plasticity or evolution. Climatic adaptation can be assessed examining the geographic variation in thermal-related traits. We studied latitudinal patterns in heat tolerance in Drosophila subobscura reared at two temperatures. We used four static stressful temperatures to estimate the thermal death time curves (TDT), and two ramping assays with fast and slow heating rates. TDT curves allow estimating the critical thermal maximum CTmax, by extrapolating to the temperature that would knockdown the flies almost 'instantaneously', and the thermal sensitivity to increasing stressful temperatures. We found a positive latitudinal cline for CTmax, but no clinal pattern for knockdown temperatures estimated from the ramping assays. Although high-latitude populations were more tolerant to an acute heat stress, they were also more sensitive to prolonged exposure to less stressful temperatures, supporting a trade-off between acute and chronic heat tolerances. Conversely, developmental plasticity did not affect CTmax but increased the tolerance to chronic heat exposition. The patterns observed from the TDT curves help to understand why the relationship between heat tolerance and latitude depends on the methodology used and, therefore, these curves provide a more complete and reliable measurement of heat tolerance.

Data from: Gene expression plasticity evolves in response to colonization of freshwater lakes in threespine stickleback

Phenotypic plasticity is predicted to facilitate individual survival and/or evolve in response to novel environments. Plasticity that facilitates survival should both permit colonization and act as a buffer against further evolution, with contemporary and derived forms predicted to be similarly plastic for a suite of traits. On the other hand, given the importance of plasticity in maintaining internal homeostasis, derived populations that encounter greater environmental heterogeneity should evolve greater plasticity. We tested the evolutionary significance of phenotypic plasticity in coastal British Columbian postglacial populations of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) that evolved under greater seasonal extremes in temperature after invading freshwater lakes from the sea. Two ancestral (contemporary marine) and two derived (contemporary freshwater) populations of stickleback were raised near their thermal tolerance extremes, 7°C and 22°C. Gene expression plasticity was estimated for more than 14 000 genes. Over five thousand genes were similarly plastic in marine and freshwater stickleback, but freshwater populations exhibited significantly more genes with plastic expression than marine populations. Furthermore, several of the loci shown to exhibit gene expression plasticity have been previously implicated in the adaptive evolution of freshwater populations, including a gene involved in mitochondrial regulation (PPARAa). Collectively, these data provide molecular evidence that highlights the importance of plasticity in colonization and adaptation to new environments.

Data from: A cross-seasonal perspective on local adaptation: metabolic plasticity mediates responses to winter in a thermal-generalist moth

The physiological and ecological impact of the thermal environment across life-stages can result in trade-offs that determine fitness and population dynamics. Understanding mechanisms and consequences of local adaptation for any organism that overwinters requires taking a cross-seasonal perspective. We used a trait-based approach to distinguish variation among ecotypes in ecological and physiological responses to overwintering conditions. We used fall webworms (Hyphantria cunea; Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) from Ottawa, Ontario and Columbus Ohio, representing the centre and periphery of the native range. We hypothesised that populations would be locally adapted to their overwintering environments, with fitness maximised under natal overwintering conditions. We predicted that this local adaptation would result from modulation of rates of energy use, growth and development. Each ecotype had higher overwinter survival in their natal compared to non-natal winter environment, and this was associated with larger pupal mass, size and carbohydrate reserves at the end of winter. This suggests that the ecotypes are locally adapted to winter conditions. Larger adults laid more eggs, but there was no effect of ecotype or environment on fecundity. Pupae overwintering at warm, energetically demanding southern temperatures suppressed metabolic rates in autumn, and developed more quickly in the spring, compensating for energetic demands of warmer winters. Northern ecotypes had lower thermal sensitivity of metabolism, leading to higher metabolic rates at cool temperatures that correlated with faster post-winter development. Local adaptation to winter conditions suggests performance of peripheral populations may not be enhanced by warming winters. Decoupling of winter and growing season temperatures may negatively impact ectotherms.

opencc-zeroJan 2020View details →

Egg-size plasticity in Apis mellifera: honey bee queens alter egg size in response to both genetic and environmental factors

Social evolution has led to distinct life-history patterns in social insects, but many colony-level and individual traits, such as egg size, are not sufficiently understood. Thus, a series of experiments was performed to study the effects of genotypes, colony size, and colony nutrition on variation in egg size produced by honey bee (Apis mellifera) queens. Queens from different genetic stocks produced significantly different egg sizes under similar environmental conditions, indicating standing genetic variation for egg size that allows for adaptive evolutionary change. Further investigations revealed that eggs produced by queens in large colonies were consistently smaller than eggs produced in small colonies, and queens dynamically adjusted egg size in relation to colony size. Similarly, queens increased egg size in response to food deprivation. These results could not be solely explained by different numbers of eggs produced in the different circumstances but instead seem to reflect an active adjustment of resource allocation by the queen in response to colony conditions. As a result, larger eggs experienced higher subsequent survival than smaller eggs, suggesting that honey bee queens might increase egg size under unfavorable conditions to enhance brood survival, and to minimize costly brood care of eggs that fail to successfully develop, and thus conserve energy at the colony level. The extensive plasticity and genetic variation of egg size in honey bees has important implications for understanding life history evolution in a social context and implies this neglected life history stage in honey bees may have trans-generational effects.

Data from: The alignment between phenotypic plasticity, the major axis of genetic variation and the response to selection

Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of a genotype to produce more than one phenotype in order to match the environment. Recent theory proposes that the major axis of genetic variation in a phenotypically plastic population can align with the direction of selection. Therefore, theory predicts that plasticity directly aids adaptation by increasing genetic variation in the direction favoured by selection and reflected in plasticity. We evaluated this theory in the freshwater crustacean Daphnia pulex, facing predation risk from two contrasting size-selective predators. We estimated plasticity in several life-history traits, the G matrix of these traits, the selection gradients on reproduction and survival, and the predicted responses to selection. Using these data, we tested whether the genetic lines of least resistance and the predicted response to selection aligned with plasticity. We found predator environment-specific G matrices, but shared genetic architecture across environments resulted in more constraint in the G matrix than in the plasticity of the traits, sometimes preventing alignment of the two. However, as the importance of survival selection increased, the difference between environments in their predicted response to selection increased and resulted in closer alignment between the plasticity and the predicted selection response. Therefore, plasticity may indeed aid adaptation to new environments.

opencc-zeroDec 2012View details →

Data from: Fear on the move: predator hunting mode predicts variation in prey mortality and plasticity in prey spatial response

1. Ecologists have long searched for a framework of a priori species traits to help predict predator-prey interactions in food webs. Empirical evidence has shown that predator hunting mode and predator and prey habitat domain are useful traits for explaining predator-prey interactions. Yet individual experiments have yet to replicate predator hunting mode, calling into question whether predator impacts can be attributed to hunting mode or merely species identity. 2. We tested the effects of spider predators with sit-and-wait, sit-and-pursue and active hunting modes on grasshopper habitat domain, activity and mortality in a grassland system. We replicated hunting mode by testing two spider predator species of each hunting mode on the same grasshopper prey species. We observed grasshoppers with and without each spider species in behavioral cages and measured their mortality rates, movements and habitat domains. We likewise measured the movements and habitat domains of spiders to characterize hunting modes. 3. We found that predator hunting mode explained grasshopper mortality and spider and grasshopper movement activity and habitat domain size. Sit-and-wait spider predators covered small distances over a narrow domain space and killed fewer grasshoppers than sit-and-pursue and active predators, which ranged farther distances across broader domains and killed more grasshoppers, respectively. Prey adjusted their activity levels and horizontal habitat domains in response to predator presence and hunting mode: sedentary sit-and-wait predators with narrow domains caused grasshoppers to reduce activity in the same-sized domain space; more mobile sit-and-pursue predators with broader domains caused prey to reduce their activity within a contracted horizontal (but not vertical) domain space; and highly mobile active spiders led grasshoppers to increase their activity across the same domain area. All predators impacted prey activity and sit-and-pursue predators generated strong effects on domain size. 4. This study demonstrates the validity of utilizing hunting mode and habitat domain for predicting predator-prey interactions. Results also highlight the importance of accounting for flexibility in prey movement ranges as an anti-predator response rather than treating the domain as a static attribute.

opencc-zeroJul 2019View details →

Data from: Phenotypic plasticity or evolutionary change? An examination of the phenological response of an arctic seabird to climate change

1. Phenological adjustments are an important aspect of a population's response to climate change. Changes in phenology can occur through either individual plasticity or evolutionary change within populations. Few studies have investigated both these processes in Arctic environments. 2. Using 42 years of individual and pedigree data, we evaluated the contribution of plasticity and evolution to variation in breeding phenology at a colony of a high Arctic sea-ice obligate seabird, Mandt's black guillemot (Cepphus grylle mandtii). Mean clutch initiation (first egg in a clutch) advanced 7.8 days, and both environmental (snowmelt) and demographic (years of breeding experience) factors varied among years. 3. Earlier phenology was associated with earlier snowmelt and experienced mothers. Females advanced phenology at different rates as they aged but at similar rates in response to variation in snowmelt. Heritability of clutch initiation was negligible, and there was no evidence of evolution contributing to phenological changes. 4. Earlier laying was associated with increased annual number of fledglings and annual adult survival at the individual level suggesting that the phenological changes are adaptive and are driven by phenotypic plasticity, but not genetic responses. 5. We propose that species with a constrained breeding season (like many Arctic species) may have a limited ability beyond existing plasticity to respond to changing environmental conditions.

Data from: Extensive transcriptional response associated with seasonal plasticity of butterfly wing patterns

In the eastern United States the buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia, shows seasonal wing color plasticity where adults emerging in the spring are tan, while those emerging in the autumn are dark red. This variation can be artificially induced in laboratory colonies, thus making J. coenia a useful model system to examine the mechanistic basis of plasticity. To better understand the developmental basis of seasonal plasticity we used RNA-seq to quantify transcription profiles associated with development of alternative seasonal wing morphs. Depending on the developmental stage, between 547 and 1420 transfrags were significantly differentially expressed between morphs. These extensive differences in gene expression stand in contrast to the much smaller numbers of differentially expressed transcripts identified in previous studies of genetic wing pattern variation in other species, and suggest that environmentally induced phenotypic shifts arise from very broad systemic processes. Analyses of candidate endocrine and pigmentation transcripts revealed notable genes upregulated in the red morph, including several ecdysone-associated genes, and cinnabar, a pigmentation gene implicated in color pattern variation in other butterflies. We also found multiple melanin-related transcripts strongly upregulated in the red morph, including tan and yellow-family genes, leading us to speculate that dark red pigmentation in autumn J. coenia may involve non-ommochrome pigments. While we identified several endocrine and pigmentation genes as obvious candidates for seasonal color morph differentiation, we speculate that the majority of observed expression differences were due to thermal stress response. The buckeye transcriptome provides a basis for further developmental studies of phenotypic plasticity.

Data from: Within-individual plasticity explains age-related decrease in stress response in a short-lived bird

A crucial problem for every organism is how to allocate energy between competing life-history components. The optimal allocation decision is often state-dependent and mediated by hormones. Here, we investigated how age, a major state variable affects individuals' hormonal response to a standardized stressor: a trait that may reflect allocation between self-maintenance and reproduction. We caught free-living house sparrows and measured their hormonal (corticosterone) response to capture stress in consecutive years. Using a long-term ringing dataset, we determined the age of the birds, and we partitioned the variation into within- and among-individual age components to investigate the effects of plasticity versus selection or gene flow, respectively, on the stress response. We found large among-individual variation in the birds' hormone profiles, but overall, birds responded less strongly to capture stress as they grew older. These results suggest that stress responsiveness is a plastic trait that may vary within individuals in an adaptive manner, and natural selection may act on the reaction norms producing optimal phenotypic response in the actual environment and life-history stage.

Data from: Adaptive plasticity and epigenetic variation in response to warming in an Alpine plant

Environmentally induced phenotypic plasticity may be a critical component of response to changing environments. We examined local differentiation and adaptive phenotypic plasticity in response to elevated temperature in half-sib lines collected across an elevation gradient for the alpine herb, Wahlenbergia ceracea. Using Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP), we found low but significant genetic differentiation between low- and high-elevation seedlings, and seedlings originating from low elevations grew faster and showed stronger temperature responses (more plasticity) than those from medium and high elevations. Furthermore, plasticity was more often adaptive for plants of low-elevation origin and maladaptive for plants of high elevation. With methylation sensitive-AFLP (MS-AFLP), we revealed an increase in epigenetic variation in response to temperature in low-elevation seedlings. Although we did not find significant direct correlations between MS-AFLP loci and phenotypes, our results demonstrate that adaptive plasticity in temperature response to warming varies over fine spatial scales and suggest the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms in this response.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

Data from: No phenotypic plasticity in nest-site selection in response to extreme flooding events

Phenotypic plasticity is a crucial mechanism for responding to changes in climatic means, yet we know little about its role in responding to extreme climatic events (ECEs). ECEs may lack the reliable cues necessary for phenotypic plasticity to evolve; however, this has not been empirically tested. We investigated whether behavioural plasticity in nest-site selection allows a long-lived shorebird (Haematopus ostralegus) to respond to flooding. We collected longitudinal nest elevation data on individuals over two decades, during which time flooding events have become increasingly frequent. We found no evidence that individuals learn from flooding experiences, showing nest elevation change consistent with random nest-site selection. There was also no evidence of phenotypic plasticity in response to potential environmental cues (lunar nodal cycle and water height). A small number of individuals, those nesting near an artificial sea wall, did show an increase in nest elevation over time; however, there is no conclusive evidence this occurred in response to ECEs. Our study population showed no behavioural plasticity in response to changing ECE patterns. More research is needed to determine whether this pattern is consistent across species and types of ECEs. If so, ECEs may pose a major challenge to the resilience of wild populations.

opencc-zeroDec 2018View details →

Data from: Rapid plastic breeding response to rain matches peak prey abundance in a tropical savannah bird

1. Changes in climate are shifting the timing of life cycle events in the natural world. Compared to northern-temperate areas, these effects are relatively poorly understood in tropical and southern regions, where there is limited information on how timing of breeding and food availability are affected by climatic factors, and where patterns of breeding activity are more unpredictable within and between years. 2. Combining a new statistical modelling approach with 5 years of continuous individual-based monitoring of a monsoonal tropical insectivorous bird, we quantified (i) the proximate climatic drivers at two trophic levels: timing of breeding and abundance of arthropod prey; (ii) the effect of climate variation on reproductive output and (iii) the role of individual plasticity. 3. Rainfall was identified as the main determinant of phenology at both trophic levels. Throughout the year, likelihood of egg laying increased very rapidly in response to even small amounts of rain during the preceding 0-3 weeks. Adult body mass and male sperm storage also increased rapidly after rain, suggesting high breeding preparedness. Additionally, females were flexible, since they were more likely to nest if their previous attempt was longer ago and unsuccessful. Arthropod abundance also increased after rainfall, but more slowly, with a peak around 10 weeks. Therefore, the peak food availability coincided with the presence of dependent fledglings. 4. Fitness benefits of nesting after more rain appeared to be linked to offspring quantity rather than quality: nest attempts following higher rainfall produced larger clutches, but showed no improvement in nestling mass or relative fledging success. The response of clutch size to rainfall was plastic, since repeated sampling showed that individual females laid larger clutches after more rain, possibly mediated by improved body mass. 5. Rapid, individually flexible breeding in response to rainfall and slower increase in arthropod abundance also as a response to rainfall, might buffer insectivorous species living in tropical seasonal environments from climate-change induced phenological trophic mismatches.

opencc-zeroApr 2020View details →

Additive and mostly adaptive plastic responses of gene expression to multiple stress in Tribolium castaneum

Gene expression is known to be highly responsive to the environment and important for adjustment of metabolism but there is also growing evidence that differences in gene regulation contribute to species divergence and differences among locally adapted populations. However, most studies so far investigated populations when divergence had already occurred. Selection acting on expression levels at the onset of adaptation to an environmental change has not been characterized. Understanding the mechanisms is further complicated by the fact that environmental change is often multivariate, meaning that organisms are exposed to multiple stressors simultaneously with potentially interactive effects. Here we use a novel approach by combining fitness and whole-transcriptome data in a large-scale experiment to investigate responses to drought, heat and their combination in Tribolium castaneum . We found that fitness was reduced by both stressors and their combined effect was almost additive. Expression data showed that stressor responses were acting independently and did not interfere physiologically. Since we measured expression and fitness within the same individuals, we were able to estimate selection on gene expression levels. We found that variation in fitness can be attributed to gene expression variation and that selection pressures were environment dependent and opposite between control and stress conditions. We could further show that plastic responses of expression were largely adaptive, i.e. in the direction that should increase fitness.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

Data from: Plasticity of thermoregulatory behaviour in response to the thermal environment by widespread and alpine reptile species

Phenotypic plasticity plays a central role in determining how organisms respond to environmental change over short timescales. Despite this, we know little about how phenotypic plasticity varies between populations or species. We tested the extent of plasticity in basking behaviour in low- and high-altitude populations of two widespread lowland and two highland species of a cool-climate lizard genus: Niveoscincus. We found evidence of divergence in basking behaviour between populations and species, with highland species and high-altitude populations of all species basking more than the widespread lowland species and low-altitude populations. Furthermore, we found differences in the extent of behavioural plasticity between species. Widespread lowland species altered their basking behaviour depending on basking opportunity whereas the highland species maintained high levels of basking independent of basking opportunity. These differences in basking behaviour were concordant with the differences in body temperature across all populations, species and treatments. Combined, this suggests that divergence in thermoregulatory behaviour and thermophysiology between populations and species may have been facilitated by adaptive behavioural plasticity within populations. We discuss this and the implications of our findings for the ability of these animals to cope with ongoing climate change.

Data from: The continuum between semelparity and iteroparity: plastic expression of parity in response to season length manipulation in Lobelia inflata.

Background: Semelparity and iteroparity are considered to be distinct and alternative life-history strategies, where semelparity is characterized by a single, fatal reproductive episode, and iteroparity by repeated reproduction throughout life. However, semelparous organisms do not reproduce instantaneously; typically reproduction occurs over an extended time period. If variation in reproductive allocation exists within such a prolonged reproductive episode, semelparity may be considered iteroparity over a shorter time scale.This continuity hypothesis predicts that "semelparous" organisms with relatively low probability of survival after age at first reproduction will exhibit more extreme semelparity than those with high probability of adult survival. This contrasts with the conception of semelparity as a distinct reproductive strategy expressing a discrete, single, bout of reproduction, where reproductive phenotype is expected to be relatively invariant. Here, we manipulate expected season length—and thus expected adult survival—to ask whether Lobelia inflata, a classic "semelparous" plant, exhibits plasticity along a semelparous-iteroparous continuum. Results: Groups of replicated genotypes were manipulated to initiate reproduction at different points in the growing season in each of three years. In lab and field populations alike, the norm of reaction in parity across a season was as predicted by the continuity hypothesis: as individuals bolted later, they showed shorter time to, and smaller size at first reproduction, and multiplied their reproductive organs through branching, thus producing offspring more simultaneously. Conclusions: This work demonstrates that reproductive effort occurs along a semelparous-iteroparous continuum within a "semelparous" organism, and that variation in parity occurs within populations as a result of phenotypic plasticity.

Data from: Plastic and evolutionary gene expression responses are correlated in European grayling (Thymallus thymallus) sub-populations adapted to different thermal environments

Understanding how populations adapt to changing environmental conditions is a long-standing theme in evolutionary biology. Gene expression changes have been recognized as an important driver of local adaptation, but relatively little is known regarding the direction of change and in particular, about the interplay between plastic and evolutionary gene expression. We have previously shown that the gene expression profiles of European grayling (Thymallus thymallus) populations inhabiting different thermal environments include both plastic and evolutionary components. However, whether the plastic and evolutionary responses were in the same direction was not investigated in detail, nor was the identity of the specific genes involved. In this study, we show that the plastic changes in protein expression in response to different temperatures are highly correlated with the evolutionary response in grayling subpopulations adapted to different thermal environments. This finding provides preliminary evidence that the plastic response most likely facilitates adaptation during the early phases of colonization of thermal environments. The proteins that showed significant changes in expression level between warm and cold temperature treatments were mostly related to muscle development, which is consistent with earlier findings demonstrating muscle mass differentiation between cold and warm grayling populations.