What is phenotypic plasticity?
Jackie’s wikipedia answer is correct: phenotypic plasticity refers to variation in an organisms phenotype that is due to differences in the environment and not the underlying genotype. This is important as genotypes are the things that are inherited and so even if two organisms may have the same genotype, they may not necessarily have the same phenotype. Phenotypic plasticity is actually a very complicated topic and evolutionary biologists and ecological geneticists are still trying to determine what traits may be phenotypically plastic and what the causes may be. Regardless, phenotypic plasticity is important because it allows organisms with the same genotype to “adapt” to different environments. This concept is particularly important for invasive species (organisms which are introduced to an area they aren’t suppose to be in and may spread and displace native species). Invasive species are thought to have quite a bit of phenotypic plasticity with regards to their traits which may all
