Evolution of inducible defenses

Predation is a major selective force structuring biological communities and causing the evolution of defenses in many prey organisms. While permanent defenses evolve under constant predation pressure, inducible defenses are adaptations to heterogeneity in predation risk [1] and likely evolved under divergent selection regimes. Costs for the production or maintenance of defenses are saved during times when these defenses are not required. A fascinating aspect of the study of inducible defenses is that organisms with the same genotype can display drama ti cally different phenotypes in response to par ticular environmental factors that are required for activat ing genes that control the formation of these defenses. The interplay of genes and environment is far from being fully understood, above all since the gene