different environments (for example, Aubin-Horth and Renn, 2009), aspecialist in one environment will purge deleterious mutations andfixbeneficial mutations faster than a generalist, which experiencesmultiple environments (for example, Kawecki, 1994). The constraintsimposed by relaxed selection are well established in the theoreticalliterature where specialists will often out-compete plastic generalists,but there are few data sets directly testing this idea

Acost of phenotyperefers in part to thefitness trade-offs inherent in allocating resources to one trait vs another as well asthe costs of obtaining information on the environment

The changes are complex, including housing, urban plan, human density, home architecture, technologic isola-tion of houses from the environment, ventilation, diet, clothing, exercise, personal care products and medicines

Under natural conditions, the neonate and the microbiota develop in an orchestrated fashion under the nutritional, immunological, hormonal and prebiotic effect of maternal milk—a single food of complex biological formulation

There is a current controversy about whether the presence of bacterial DNA contradicts the notion of sterility, but the presence of circulating bacterial DNA, such in the blood11 or placenta,12 or even sporadic presence of an alive intruder bacteria does not demonstrate a living blood micro-biota and does not challenge the current paradigm of sterility in immune-protected organs.

Yet,linkingthelong-termevolutionaryhistoryofor-ganismstotheirresponsestochangingenvironmentsonshort-termecologicaltime-scalesisstillchallenging

SPVconstitutesabet-hedgingstrategyresultinginthemaintenanceoffewindividualsharbouringoptimalphenotypesandmostindividualsexpressingsuboptimalphenotypesinthenewenvironmen

thechallengeistointegratealllevelsofbiodiversitytoensurethelong-termevolutionarypotentialandresilienceofbiologicalsystems

Introduced populations have almost no genetic diversity (Richards et al. 2008, 2012); yet several phenotypic traits show significant differences within and among populations. There was nearly five times as much epigenetic variation as genetic variation among Japanese knotweeds in the northeastern United States, and differentiation at some epigenetic loci could be attributed to different habitats

For example, a study of genetically identical dandelion plants (Taraxacum officinale) showed that variation in methylation was induced by different stresses; and that the major-ity of induced changes were transmitted to the next generation

heritability in plant traits and the plasticity of these traits

isogenic

Professionals should include a concept of the contribution of their research to societal needs as part of their research design, and students should be trained throughout their education to include such a concept in their value systems

Such questions, all of which have important societal implications, include the relationship of climate change and ecosystem function, genotype-phenotype interactions, the sustainability and conservation of biological diversity in seminatural environments,

The ability of such research teams to generate data and resources faster, and with more dimensionality, than can practitioners of the single-focus model of research confers a “competitive advantage.