Revely, Lewis; (2024) Mechanisms and Evolution of Phenotypic Plasticity in Social Insects. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Phenotypic plasticity - the ability of individuals to develop into different phenotypes in response to the environment - is a primary component of biological diversity, permitting organisms to exploit different niches in response to changing environmental cues. The reproductive and non-reproductive roles of social insects are an especially intriguing example of phenotypic plasticity. To better understand the proximate and ultimate basis of variation in phenotypic plasticity (the degree of plasticity, reversibility, and speciality) we must explore across the life cycle of a phenotype within a species, the contrasting plasticity between two closely related species or across many species. By exploring the macroevolutionary patterns of phenotypic plasticity, we can further the understanding of phenotypic plasticity’s relationship with fundamental evolutionary frameworks such as social complexity and major evolutionary transitions. This thesis explores the variation in phenotypic plasticity among the shared phenotypes of reproductives (queens) in the Polistes wasps and non-reproductives (workers) in the termites. First, comparative transcriptomics reveals high variation in neuro-transcriptional activity across the adult life cycle of the reproductive phenotype in P. dominula. This study emphasises the importance of stress and caste uncertainty in the early stages of the phenotype. Second, a combination of comparative genomics and transcriptomics point toward an expansion of molecular apparatus and conditional gene expression in the socially parasitic wasp P. sulcifer; this broadens our understanding of the evolution of phenotypic specialisation. Finally, phylogenetic comparative analyses provide evidence to the diminished importance of obligate sterility in termites for explaining phenotypic and evolutionary social complexity in this group. Collectively, these findings bring to light the complex and diverse nature of both intra- and inter-species phenotypic plasticity within the queen and worker phenotypes of social insects and find greater parallels across the major evolutionary transitions.

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