Type

Journal Article
Abstract

Biological organisms experience constantly changing environments, from sudden changes in physiology brought about by feeding, to the regular rising and setting of the Sun, to ecological changes over evolutionary timescales. Living organisms have evolved to thrive in this changing world but the general principles by which organisms shape and are shaped by time varying environments remain elusive. Our understanding is particularly poor in the intermediate regime with no separation of timescales, where the environment changes on the same timescale as the physiological or evolutionary response. Experiments to systematically characterize the response to dynamic environments are challenging since such environments are inherently high dimensional. This roadmap deals with the unique role played by time varying environments in biological phenomena across scales, from physiology to evolution, seeking to emphasize the commonalities and the challenges faced in this emerging area of research.

Journal
Phys Biol
Volume
18
Issue
4
Date Published
2021 May 17
ISSN Number
1478-3975
Alternate Journal
Phys Biol
PMCID
PMC8652373
PMID
33477124