Radically changing traits that have been shaped over time runs the very real risk of tipping the balance in unexpected, and potentially unpleasant, directions.
However, mutations have also occurred, which are undirected (i.e., they occur at random in terms of the consequences of changing traits), leading to both lighter and darker offspring in Generation 2 as compared to their parents in Generation 1.
Ecologists are increasingly interested in predicting how intraspecific variation and changing trait values impact species interactions and community composition.
Both direct and second-order consequences of a changing trait may have implications for feedbacks between ecology and evolution, and detailing these inter-relationships will necessarily involve exciting research (for a relevant example of natural predation see Palkovacs et al. 2009).
So, in sum, there is much more to be said about changing hurricane traits than the usual mantra that they will probably be more intense, will rain more, will ride atop higher seas, but could be less numerous overall.
Increasing that in Asian elephants would mean changing several traits, such as adding a double fur coat and a thick layer of fat to keep out the cold, and reducing ear size to cut heat loss.
Plant breeding is the art and science of changing the traits of plants in order to produce desired characteristics.
The initial four chemicals, VCRF, start by changing physical traits, acting on a gene called Tuj1, which is specifically active in neurons.
Prey organisms might be able to both reduce their predation risk and lower their unavoidable cost by changing multiple traits simultaneously [8].
The two fields are joined by the fact that environments are constantly changing and traits must evolve in order to permit population persistence.
In future studies, special attention shall be devoted to functional analysis of the genes under selection identified in the present study and to discovering the detailed molecular mechanisms of those genes in changing root traits in carrot.
