Neurogenomics of Behavioural Plasticity in Socioecological Contexts

Social and ecological challenges often elicit behavioural and physiological responses that are adaptive and subject to selection. The varying behavioural states and traits of animals are a direct output of the nervous system and underlying molecular substrates. Changes in gene expression in response to a variety of contexts such as mate choice, aggression and developmental experience can alter a number of cellular and neural pathways that lead to changes in behaviour. A common framework has emerged to understand the role of the transcriptome in animal behaviour. Behavioural plasticity describes both an individual’s ability to modify behavioural states and correlated suites of behaviour in populations, which may constrain variance across contexts. By integrating the study of behavioural plasticity with genome scale, bioinformatics and candidate gene analyses, we are rapidly expanding our understanding of this kind of organismal flexibility, its relationship with the genome and its evolutionary implications.