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Science 14 October 2005:
Vol. 310. no. 5746, pp. 304 - 306
DOI: 10.1126/science.1117004
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Reports

Selection on Heritable Phenotypic Plasticity in a Wild Bird Population

Daniel H. Nussey,1,2* Erik Postma,1 Phillip Gienapp,1 Marcel E. Visser1

Theoretical and laboratory research suggests that phenotypic plasticity can evolve under selection. However, evidence for its evolutionary potential from the wild is lacking. We present evidence from a Dutch population of great tits (Parus major) for variation in individual plasticity in the timing of reproduction, and we show that this variation is heritable. Selection favoring highly plastic individuals has intensified over a 32-year period. This temporal trend is concurrent with climate change causing a mismatch between the breeding times of the birds and their caterpillar prey. Continued selection on plasticity can act to alleviate this mismatch.

1 Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Post Office Box 40, 6666 ZG Heteren, Netherlands.
2 Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: d.h.nussey{at}sms.ed.ac.uk

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)