Developmental Plasticity

Developmental plasticity is the capacity of a single genotype to produce different phenotypes in response to different environmental conditions during development. It is not mutation or selection acting on the genotype; it is the genotype's ability to generate a range of phenotypes as a function of environmental inputs.

Plasticity is distinct from heterochrony, which changes the timing of developmental processes, and from ontogenetic trajectory, which describes the path of development. But all three are interconnected: plasticity is the range of possible trajectories, and heterochrony is the temporal perturbation of those trajectories. Together, they constitute the developmental system's evolvability.

The concept connects to phenotypic switching and bet-hedging strategies in uncertain environments.