Cargando…

Physiological Performance Curves: When Are They Useful?

This review serves as an introduction to a special issue of Frontiers in Physiology, focused on the importance of physiological performance curves across phylogenetic and functional boundaries. Biologists have used performance curves to describe the effects of changing environmental conditions on an...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Little, Alexander G., Seebacher, Frank
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8674712/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34925077
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.805102
_version_ 1784615734019620864
author Little, Alexander G.
Seebacher, Frank
author_facet Little, Alexander G.
Seebacher, Frank
author_sort Little, Alexander G.
collection PubMed
description This review serves as an introduction to a special issue of Frontiers in Physiology, focused on the importance of physiological performance curves across phylogenetic and functional boundaries. Biologists have used performance curves to describe the effects of changing environmental conditions on animal physiology since the late 1800s (at least). Animal physiologists have studied performance curves extensively over the past decades, and there is a good foundation to understanding how the environment affects physiological functions of individuals. Our goal here was to build upon this research and address outstanding questions regarding the mutability and applicability of performance curves across taxonomic groups and levels of biological organization. Performance curves are not fixed at a taxonomic, population, or individual level – rather they are dynamic and can shift in response to evolutionary pressures (e.g., selection) and epigenetic programming (e.g., plasticity). The mechanisms underlying these shifts are being increasingly used to predict the efficacy with which plasticity and heritability of performance curves can render individuals and populations less vulnerable to climate change. Individual differences in physiological performance curves (and plasticity of performance curves) can also have cascading effects at higher levels of biological organization. For instance, individual physiology likely influences group behaviors in non-additive ways. There is a need therefore to extend the concept of performance curves to social interactions and sociality. Collectively, this special issue emphasizes the power of how within- and between-individual shifts in performance curves might scale up to the population-, species-, and community-level dynamics that inform conservation management strategies.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8674712
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-86747122021-12-17 Physiological Performance Curves: When Are They Useful? Little, Alexander G. Seebacher, Frank Front Physiol Physiology This review serves as an introduction to a special issue of Frontiers in Physiology, focused on the importance of physiological performance curves across phylogenetic and functional boundaries. Biologists have used performance curves to describe the effects of changing environmental conditions on animal physiology since the late 1800s (at least). Animal physiologists have studied performance curves extensively over the past decades, and there is a good foundation to understanding how the environment affects physiological functions of individuals. Our goal here was to build upon this research and address outstanding questions regarding the mutability and applicability of performance curves across taxonomic groups and levels of biological organization. Performance curves are not fixed at a taxonomic, population, or individual level – rather they are dynamic and can shift in response to evolutionary pressures (e.g., selection) and epigenetic programming (e.g., plasticity). The mechanisms underlying these shifts are being increasingly used to predict the efficacy with which plasticity and heritability of performance curves can render individuals and populations less vulnerable to climate change. Individual differences in physiological performance curves (and plasticity of performance curves) can also have cascading effects at higher levels of biological organization. For instance, individual physiology likely influences group behaviors in non-additive ways. There is a need therefore to extend the concept of performance curves to social interactions and sociality. Collectively, this special issue emphasizes the power of how within- and between-individual shifts in performance curves might scale up to the population-, species-, and community-level dynamics that inform conservation management strategies. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-12-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8674712/ /pubmed/34925077 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.805102 Text en Copyright © 2021 Little and Seebacher. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Physiology
Little, Alexander G.
Seebacher, Frank
Physiological Performance Curves: When Are They Useful?
title Physiological Performance Curves: When Are They Useful?
title_full Physiological Performance Curves: When Are They Useful?
title_fullStr Physiological Performance Curves: When Are They Useful?
title_full_unstemmed Physiological Performance Curves: When Are They Useful?
title_short Physiological Performance Curves: When Are They Useful?
title_sort physiological performance curves: when are they useful?
topic Physiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8674712/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34925077
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.805102
work_keys_str_mv AT littlealexanderg physiologicalperformancecurveswhenaretheyuseful
AT seebacherfrank physiologicalperformancecurveswhenaretheyuseful