Role of phenotypic plasticity in morphological differentiation between watersnake populations

Abstract

An individual's morphology is shaped by the environmental pressures it experiences, and the resulting morphological response is the culmination of both genetic factors and environmental (non-genetic) conditions experienced early in its life (i.e. phenotypic plasticity). The role that phenotypic plasticity plays in shaping phenotypes is important, but evidence for its influence is often mixed. We exposed female neonate diamond-backed watersnakes (Nerodia rhombifer) from populations experiencing different prey-size regimes to different feeding treatments to test the influence of phenotypic plasticity in shaping trophic morphology. We found that snakes in a large-prey treatment from a population frequently encountering large prey exhibited a higher growth rate in body size than individuals in a small-prey treatment from the same population. This pattern was not observed in snakes from a population that regularly encounters small prey. We also found that regardless of treatment, snakes from the small-prey population were smaller at birth than snakes from the large-prey population and remained so throughout the study. These results suggest that the ability to plastically respond to environmental pressures may be population-specific. These results also indicate a genetic predisposition towards larger body sizes in a population where large prey items are more common.