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evolutionary physiology

{{short description|Study of evolutionary changes in physiological characteristics}}

File:Phenotypic Hierarchy 1.svg are often presumed to act most directly on behavior (e.g., what an animal chooses to do when confronted by a predator), which is expressed within limits set by whole-organism performance abilities (e.g., how fast it can run) that are determined by subordinate traits (e.g., muscle fiber-type composition). A weakness of this conceptual and operational model{{cite journal|last=Khan|first=R. H.|author2=J. S. Rhodes|author3=I. A. Girardd|author4=N. E. Schwartz|author5=T. Garland, Jr.|year=2024|title=Does behavior evolve first? Correlated responses to selection for voluntary wheel-running behavior in house mice|url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dgGdxfG3AGftns7glfXPN-qBME4he9WP/view|journal=Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology|volume=97|issue=2 |pages=97–117|doi=10.1086/730153|pmid=38728689}} is the absence of an explicit recognition of the place of life history traits.]]

{{evolutionary biology}}

Evolutionary physiology is the study of the biological evolution of physiological structures and processes; that is, the manner in which the functional characteristics of organisms have responded to natural selection or sexual selection or changed by random genetic drift across multiple generations during the history of a population or species.{{cite journal|last=Garland|first=T. Jr.|author2=P. A. Carter|year=1994|title=Evolutionary physiology| url=https://biology.ucr.edu/people/faculty/Garland/GarlCa94.pdf|journal=Annual Review of Physiology|volume=56|pages=579–621|doi=10.1146/annurev.ph.56.030194.003051|pmid=8010752}} It is a sub-discipline of both physiology and evolutionary biology. Practitioners in the field come from a variety of backgrounds, including physiology, evolutionary biology, ecology, and genetics.

Accordingly, the range of phenotypes studied by evolutionary physiologists is broad, including life history traits, behavior, whole-organism performance,{{cite journal |last=Arnold |first=S. J. |year=1983 |title=Morphology, performance and fitness |url=http://people.oregonstate.edu/~arnoldst/pdf_files/Arnold%201983.pdf |journal=American Zoologist |volume=23 |issue= 2|pages=347–361 |doi= 10.1093/icb/23.2.347|doi-access=free}}{{cite journal|last=Careau|first=V. C.|author2=T. Garland, Jr. |year=2012|title=Performance, personality, and energetics: correlation, causation, and mechanism| url= http://www.biology.ucr.edu/people/faculty/Garland/Careau_and_Garland_2012_performance_personality_energetics.pdf |journal=Physiological and Biochemical Zoology |volume=85 |issue= 6|pages=543–571 |doi= 10.1086/666970 |pmid=23099454|hdl=10536/DRO/DU:30056093|s2cid=16499109|hdl-access=free}} functional morphology, biomechanics, anatomy, classical physiology, endocrinology, biochemistry, and molecular evolution. The field is closely related to comparative physiology, ecophysiology, and environmental physiology, and its findings are a major concern of evolutionary medicine. One definition that has been offered is "the study of the physiological basis of fitness, namely, correlated evolution (including constraints and trade-offs) of physiological form and function associated with the environment, diet, homeostasis, energy management, longevity, and mortality and life history characteristics".{{cite journal | last1 = Lovegrove | first1 = B. G. | year = 2006 | title = The power of fitness in mammals: perceptions from the African slipstream | journal = Physiological and Biochemical Zoology | volume = 79 | issue = 2| pages = 224–236 | doi=10.1086/499994| pmid = 16555182 | s2cid = 24536395 }}

History

As the name implies, evolutionary physiology is the product of a merger between two distinct scientific disciplines. According to Garland and Carter, evolutionary physiology arose in the late 1970s, following debates concerning the metabolic and thermoregulatory status of dinosaurs (see physiology of dinosaurs) and mammal-like reptiles.

This period was followed by attempts in the early 1980s to integrate quantitative genetics into evolutionary biology, which had spillover effects on other fields, such as behavioral ecology and ecophysiology. In the mid- to late 1980s, phylogenetic comparative methods started to become popular in many fields, including physiological ecology and comparative physiology. A 1987 volume titled New Directions in Ecological Physiology{{cite book |editor-last=Feder |editor-first=M. E. |editor2=A. F. Bennett |editor3=W. W. Burggren |editor4=R. B. Huey |title=New directions in ecological physiology |publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press |location=New York |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-521-34938-3}} had little ecology{{cite journal |last=Kingsolver |first=J. G |year=1988 |title=Evolutionary physiology: Where's the ecology? A review of New Directions in Ecological physiology, Feder et al. 1987 |journal= Ecology |volume=69 |issue= 5|pages=1645–1646 |doi=10.2307/1941674|jstor=1941674 }} but a considerable emphasis on evolutionary topics. It generated vigorous debate, and within a few years the National Science Foundation had developed a panel titled [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304192143/http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/progdesc/1998/bio/ibn/1148.htm Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology].

Shortly thereafter, selection experiments and experimental evolution became increasingly common in evolutionary physiology. Macrophysiology has emerged as a sub-discipline, in which practitioners attempt to identify large-scale patterns in physiological traits (e.g. patterns of co-variation with latitude) and their ecological implications.{{cite journal|last=Chown|first=S. L.|author2=K. J. Gaston|author3=D. Robinson|year=2004|title=Macrophysiology: large-scale patterns in physiological traits and their ecological implications|journal=Functional Ecology|volume=18|issue=2|pages=159–167|doi=10.1111/j.0269-8463.2004.00825.x|doi-access=free|bibcode=2004FuEco..18..159C }}

{{cite journal | last1 = Gaston | first1 = K. J. | last2 = Chown | first2 = S. L. | last3 = Calosi | first3 = P. | last4 = Bernardo | first4 = J. | last5 = Bilton | first5 = D. T. | last6 = Clarke | first6 = A. | last7 = Clusella-Trullas | first7 = S. | last8 = Ghalambor | first8 = C. K. | last9 = Konarzewski | first9 = M. | last10 = Peck | first10 = L. S. | last11 = Porter | first11 = W. P. | last12 = Pörtner | first12 = H. O. | last13 = Rezende | first13 = E. L. | last14 = Schulte | first14 = P. M. | last15 = Spicer | first15 = J. I. | last16 = Stillman | first16 = J. H. | last17 = Terblanche | first17 = J. S. | last18 = van Kleunen | first18 = M. | year = 2009 | title = Macrophysiology: a conceptual reunification | url = https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/bitstream/123456789/12471/1/van%20Kleunen.pdf| journal = The American Naturalist | volume = 174 | issue = 5| pages = 595–612 | doi=10.1086/605982| pmid = 19788354 | bibcode = 2009ANat..174..595G | s2cid = 6239591 | hdl = 10019.1/119921 | hdl-access = free }}

{{cite journal | last1 = Chown | first1 = S. L. | last2 = Gaston | first2 = K. J. | year = 2015 | title = Macrophysiology - progress and prospects | journal = Functional Ecology | volume = 30 | issue = 3| pages = 330–344 | doi=10.1111/1365-2435.12510| doi-access = free }}

More recently, the importance of evolutionary physiology has been argued from the perspective of functional analyses, epigenetics, and an extended evolutionary synthesis.{{cite journal | last1 = Noble | first1 = D. | last2 = Jablonka | first2 = E. | last3 = Joyner | first3 = M. J. | last4 = Müller | first4 = G. B. | last5 = Omholt | first5 = S. W. | year = 2014 | title = Evolution evolves: physiology returns to centre stage | journal = The Journal of Physiology | volume = 592 | issue = 11| pages = 2237–2244 | doi=10.1113/jphysiol.2014.273151 | pmid=24882808 | pmc=4048083}} The growth of evolutionary physiology is also reflected in the emergence of sub-disciplines, such as evolutionary biomechanics{{cite book |author1-last=Taylor |author1-first=G. |author2=A. Thomas |title=Evolutionary biomechanics: selection, phylogeny, and constraint |publisher=Offord Univ. Press |location=Oxford |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-19-177945-9}}{{cite journal | last1 = Broyde | first1 = S. | last2 = Dempsey | first2 = M. | last3 = Wang | first3 = L. |last4 = Cox | first4 = P. G.| last5 = Fagan | first5 = M.|

last6 = Bates | first6 = K. T.| year = 2021 | title = Evolutionary biomechanics: hard tissues and soft evidence? | journal = Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences | volume = 288 | issue = 1945 | pages = 20202809 | doi=10.1098/rspb.2020.2809| pmid = 33593183 | pmc = 7935025 }} and evolutionary endocrinology,{{cite journal | last1 = Zera | first1 = A. J. | last2 = Harshman | first2 = L. G. | last3 = Williams | first3 = T. D. | year = 2007 | title = Evolutionary endocrinology: the developing synthesis between endocrinology and evolutionary genetics | url = http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1039&context=bioscizera| journal = Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics | volume = 38 | pages = 793–817 | doi=10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.38.091206.095615| s2cid = 33272127 }}{{cite journal | last1 = Cox | first1 = R. M. | last2 = McGlothlin | first2 = J. W. | last3 = Bonier | first3 = F. | year = 2016 | title = Hormones as mediators of phenotypic and genetic integration: an evolutionary genetics approach | journal = Integrative and Comparative Biology | volume = 56 | issue = 2| pages = 126–137 | doi = 10.1093/icb/icw033 | pmid = 27252188 | doi-access = free }} which addresses such hybrid questions as "What are the most common endocrine mechanisms that respond to selection on behavior or life-history traits?"{{cite journal | last1 = Garland | first1 = T. Jr.| last2 = Zhao | first2 = M. | last3 = Saltzman | first3 = W. | year = 2016 | title = Hormones and the evolution of complex traits: insights from artificial selection on behavior | url = http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/3cd1w8x3| journal = Integrative and Comparative Biology | volume = 56 | issue = 2| pages = 207–224 | doi=10.1093/icb/icw040| pmid = 27252193 | pmc = 5964798 }}

Emergent properties

As a hybrid scientific discipline, evolutionary physiology provides some unique perspectives. For example, an understanding of physiological mechanisms can help in determining whether a particular pattern of phenotypic variation or co-variation (such as an allometric relationship) represents what could possibly exist or just what selection has allowed.{{cite journal|last=Weber|first=K. E.|year=1990|title=Selection on wing allometry in Drosophila melanogaster| url= |journal=Genetics |volume=126 |issue=4 |pages=975–989| doi=10.1093/genetics/126.4.975|pmid=2127580|pmc=1204293}}{{cite journal |last1=Bolstad |first1=G. H. |last2=et |first2=al |year=2015 |title=Complex constraints on allometry revealed by artificial selection on the wing of Drosophila melanogaster| url= |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |volume=112 |issue=43 |pages=13284–13289| doi=10.1073/pnas.1505357112|doi-access=free | pmid=26371319|pmc=4629349 |bibcode=2015PNAS..11213284B |hdl=11250/2463865 |hdl-access=free }}

Similarly, a thorough knowledge of physiological mechanisms can greatly enhance understanding of possible reasons for evolutionary correlations and constraints than is possible for many of the traits typically studied by evolutionary biologists (such as morphology).

Areas of research

Important areas of current research include:

  • Organismal performance as a central phenotype (e.g., measures of speed or stamina in animal locomotion)
  • Role of behavior in physiological evolution
  • Physiological and endocrinological basis of variation in life history traits (e.g., clutch size)
  • Functional significance of molecular evolution
  • Genomic basis of adaptation{{cite journal |last=Crawford |first=D.L. |author2=P. M. Schulte |author3=A. Whitehead |author4=M. F. Oleksiak |year=2020 |title=Evolutionary physiology and genomics in the highly adaptable killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cphy.c190004 |journal=Comprehensive Physiology |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=637–671 |doi=10.1002/cphy.c190004 |pmid=32163195 |isbn=978-0-470-65071-4 }}
  • Extent to which species differences are adaptive
  • Physiological underpinnings of limits to geographic ranges
  • Geographic variation in physiology{{cite journal |last=Garland |first=T. Jr. |author2=S. C. Adolph |year=1991 |title=Physiological differentiation of vertebrate populations |url=https://biology.ucr.edu/people/faculty/Garland/GarlAd91.pdf |journal=Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics |volume=22 |pages=193–228 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.22.1.193 |access-date=2013-05-07 |archive-date=2012-02-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216164027/http://www.biology.ucr.edu/people/faculty/Garland/GarlAd91.pdf |url-status=dead }}
  • Role of sexual selection in shaping physiological evolution
  • Magnitude of "phylogenetic signal" in physiological traits
  • Role of pathogens and parasites in physiological evolution and immunity
  • Application of optimality modeling to elucidate the degree of adaptation
  • Role of phenotypic plasticity in accounting for individual, population, and species differences{{cite journal |last=Kelly |first=S. A. |author2=T. Panhuis| author3=A. Stoehr| year=2012 |title=Phenotypic plasticity: molecular mechanisms and adaptive significance |journal=Comprehensive Physiology |volume=2 |issue= 2|pages=1417–1439 |doi=10.1002/cphy.c110008|pmid=23798305 |isbn=9780470650714 }}
  • Mechanistic basis of trade-offs and constraints on evolution (e.g., putative Carrier's constraint on running and breathing)
  • Limits on sustained metabolic rate{{cite journal |last=Bacigalupe |first=L. D. |author2=F. Bozinovic |year=2002 |title=Animal design and sustained metabolic rate |journal=Journal of Experimental Biology |volume=205 |issue=Pt 19 |pages=2963–2970 |doi=10.1242/jeb.205.19.2963 |pmid=12200400 }}
  • Origin of allometric scaling relations or allometric laws (and the so-called metabolic theory of ecology)
  • Individual variation (see also Individual differences psychology)
  • Functional significance of biochemical polymorphisms
  • Analysis of physiological variation via quantitative genetics
  • Paleophysiology{{cite journal |last=Padian |first=K. |author2-last=de Ricqlès |author2-first=A. |year=2020 |title=Inferring the physiological regimes of extinct vertebrates: methods, limits and framework |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=6 |issue=1793 |pages=20190147 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2019.0147|pmid=31928190 |pmc=7017439 }} and the evolution of endothermy{{cite journal |last=Rezende |first=E. L. |author2-last=Bacigalupe |author2-first=L. D.|author3-last=Nespolo |author3-first=L. D.|author4-last=Bozinovic |author4-first=L. D.|year=2020 |title=Shrinking dinosaurs and the evolution of endothermy in birds |journal=Science Advances |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=eaaw4486 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.aaw4486|pmid=31911937 |pmc=6938711|bibcode=2020SciA....6.4486R }}{{cite journal |last=Araújo |first=R. |author2-last=et |author2-first=al |year=2022 |title=Inner ear biomechanics reveals a Late Triassic origin for mammalian endothermy |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04963-z |journal=Nature |volume=607 |issue=7920 |pages=726–731 |doi=10.1038/s41586-022-04963-z|pmid=35859179 |bibcode=2022Natur.607..726A }}
  • Human adaptational physiology
  • Darwinian medicine
  • Evolution of dietary antioxidants

Techniques

  • Artificial selection and experimental evolution{{cite journal|last=Bennett|first=A. F.|author2=R. E. Lenski|year=1999|title=Experimental evolution and its role in evolutionary physiology|url=http://icb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/39/2/346.pdf|journal=American Zoologist|volume=39|issue=2|pages=346–362|doi=10.1093/icb/39.2.346|doi-access=free}}{{cite journal|last=Gibbs|first=A. G.|year=1999|title=Laboratory selection for the comparative physiologist|url=https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/202/20/2709/8212/Laboratory-selection-for-the-comparative|journal=Journal of Experimental Biology |volume=202|issue=20|pages=2709–2718|doi=10.1242/jeb.202.20.2709|pmid=10504307 |bibcode=1999JExpB.202.2709G }} [https://biology.ucr.edu/people/faculty/Garland/Girard01.mov mouse wheel running video]
  • Genetic analyses and manipulations
  • Measurement of selection in the wild{{cite journal |last=Irschick |first=D. J. |author2=J. J. Meyers |author3=J. F. Husak |author4=J.-F. Le Galliard |year=2008 |title=How does selection operate on whole-organism functional performance capacities? A review and synthesis |url=http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/irschick/Irs_papers/Irschick%20%20et%20al%202008%20EER.pdf |journal=Evolutionary Ecology Research |issn=0003-1569 |volume=10 |pages=177–196 |citeseerx=10.1.1.371.8464 |access-date=2009-01-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609163246/http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/irschick/Irs_papers/Irschick%20%20et%20al%202008%20EER.pdf |archive-date=2011-06-09 }}
  • Phenotypic plasticity and manipulation
  • Phylogenetically based comparisons{{cite journal|last=Garland|first=T. Jr.|author2=A. F. Bennett|author3=E. L. Rezende|year=2005|title=Phylogenetic approaches in comparative physiology| url=https://biology.ucr.edu/people/faculty/Garland/GarlandEA2005_JEBCM.pdf|journal=Journal of Experimental Biology|volume=208|issue=Pt 16|pages=3015–3035|doi=10.1242/jeb.01745|pmid=16081601|s2cid=14871059|doi-access=free|bibcode=2005JExpB.208.3015G }}
  • Doubly labeled water measurements of free-living energy demands of animals

Funding and societies

In the United States, research in evolutionary physiology is funded mainly by the National Science Foundation. A number of scientific societies feature sections that encompass evolutionary physiology, including:

  • [http://www.the-aps.org/ American Physiological Society "integrating the life sciences from molecule to organism"]
  • [http://sicb.org/ Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology]
  • Society for Experimental Biology

Journals that frequently publish articles about evolutionary physiology

  • American Naturalist
  • [http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/525464/description#description Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology]
  • [http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/book/10.1002/cphy/topics Comprehensive Physiology]
  • [http://esapubs.org/esapubs/journals/ecology.htm Ecology]
  • [http://evol.allenpress.com/evolonline/?request=index-html Evolution] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060425205845/http://evol.allenpress.com/evolonline/?request=index-html |date=2006-04-25 }}
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20070205064322/http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0269-8463 Functional Ecology]
  • Integrative and Comparative Biology
  • [https://www.springer.com/west/home/biomed?SGWID=4-124-70-1055797-0 Journal of Comparative Physiology]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20070304040240/http://www.maik.rssi.ru/cgi-bin/journal.pl?name=evolbp&page=main Journal of Evolutionary Biochemistry and Physiology]
  • Journal of Evolutionary Biology
  • [http://jeb.biologists.org/ Journal of Experimental Biology]
  • Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology (formerly Physiological and Biochemical Zoology)

See also

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References

{{Reflist|2}}

External links

  • [https://sites.google.com/ucr.edu/hrmice/evolutionary-physiology-links People, Labs, and Programs in Evolutionary Physiology]
  • [http://evolutionarysystemsbiology.org/papers/index.html Evolutionary Systems Biology - Some Important Papers]
  • [https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/journals/pbz/tradeoffs-collection Physiological and Biochemical Zoology Focused Collection: Trade-Offs in Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology]

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Category:Physiology

Category:Evolutionary biology