Plasticity in traits in response to environmental conditions can increase fitness, expanding the range of environments within which a genotype can generate viable and productive phenotypes, and ...therefore when and where populations can persist and diversify in ecological space. Adaptive forms of plasticity in invertebrates are diverse, ranging from polyphenism and diapause to behavioural thermoregulation and optimal foraging. Local patterns of environmental variation and developmental constraints will dictate which of these forms evolves. Here we review the core idea that the use of narrow developmental windows by invertebrates to attain specific types of phenotypic changes reduces their reversibility, while increasing their magnitude. These tradeoffs dictate the costs and effectiveness of plasticity in buffering environmental variation. In particular, plastic responses to narrow developmental or environmental windows increase fitness costs when predicted environmental challenges do not materialise, or when the environment changes in unpredictable ways. We then explore the converse idea that increasing trait reversibility depends on extending the period for which genotypes are sensitive to the environment, but also narrows the range of plastic phenotypes that can be generated. Considering these findings together, we would expect that the costs, benefits and constraints of reversible versus irreversible plasticity affect the rate and magnitude of adaptive responses to rapidly changing and novel environments. However, such predictions have rarely been tested or included in theoretical models. Identifying this knowledge gap leads us to propose new research directions to provide a deeper understanding of the evolution of plasticity in invertebrates and other organisms. We illustrate these possible directions through examples of Drosophila adapting to thermal stress.
Research has shown links between emotion regulation strategies and child mental health. However, it is not well known how the characteristics of children may moderate these links. The aim of this ...study was to explore whether environmental sensitivity—the ability to perceive and process information about the environment—moderates links between emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) and children’s emotional and behavioral problems. The study included 1381 children ( M
age
= 10.53, 51% girls) who gave information about their emotion regulation and environmental sensitivity, and whose teachers reported on their emotional and behavioral problems. The results showed that suppression predicted a higher amount of problems for girls regardless of their sensitivity level. For boys, environmental sensitivity moderated this link. Among more environmentally sensitive boys, the association between suppression usage and emotional and behavioral problems was stronger than among less sensitive boys. These results show that the effects of suppression may be exacerbated depending on the child’s gender and environmental sensitivity.
Purpose
People differ significantly in their response to psychological intervention, with some benefitting more from treatment than others. According to the recently proposed theoretical framework of ...vantage sensitivity, some of this variability may be due to individual differences in environmental sensitivity, the inherent ability to register, and process external stimuli. In this paper, we apply the vantage sensitivity framework to the field of psychiatry and clinical psychology, proposing that some people are more responsive to the positive effects of psychological intervention due to heightened sensitivity.
Methods
After presenting theoretical frameworks related to environmental sensitivity, we review a selection of recent studies reporting individual differences in the positive response to psychological intervention.
Results
A growing number of studies report that some people benefit more from psychological intervention than others as a function of genetic, physiological, and psychological characteristics. These studies support the vantage sensitivity proposition that treatment response is influenced by factors associated with heightened sensitivity to environmental influences. More recently, studies have also shown that sensitivity can be measured with a short questionnaire which appears to predict the response to psychological intervention.
Conclusions
Vantage sensitivity is a framework with significant relevance for our understanding of widely observed heterogeneity in treatment response. It suggests that variability in response to treatment is partly influenced by people’s differing capacity for environmental sensitivity, which can be measured with a short questionnaire. Application of the vantage sensitivity framework to psychiatry and clinical psychology may improve our knowledge regarding when, how, and for whom interventions work.
The interplay of parenting and environmental sensitivity on children's behavioral adjustment during, and immediately after, the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions was investigated in two longitudinal ...studies involving Italian preschoolers (Study 1,
= 72; 43% girls,
= 3.82(1.38)) and primary school children (Study 2,
= 94; 55% girls,
= 9.08(0.56)). Data were collected before and during the first-wave lockdown (Studies 1 and 2) and one month later (Study 1). Parental stress and parent-child closeness were measured. Markers of environmental sensitivity in children were temperamental fearfulness and Sensory Processing Sensitivity. Results showed little change in externalizing and internalizing behaviors over time, but differences emerged when considering parenting and children's environmental sensitivity. In preschoolers, greater parenting stress was related to a stronger increase in internalizing and externalizing behaviors, with children high in fearful temperament showing a more marked decrease in externalizing behaviors when parenting stress was low. In school-aged children, parent-child closeness emerged as a protective factor for internalizing and externalizing behaviors during COVID-19, with children high in Sensory Processing Sensitivity showing a marked decrease in internalizing behaviors when closeness was high. Implications for developmental theory and practice in times of pandemic are discussed.
All individuals on planet earth are sensitive to the environment, but some more than others. These individual differences in sensitivity to environments are seen across many animal species including ...humans, and can influence personalities as well as vulnerability and resilience to mental disorders. Yet, little is known about the underlying brain mechanisms. Key genes that contribute to individual differences in environmental sensitivity are the serotonin transporter, dopamine D4 receptor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor genes. By synthesizing neurodevelopmental findings of these genetic factors, and discussing them through the lens of mechanisms related to sensitive periods, which are phases of heightened neuronal plasticity during which a certain network is being finetuned by experiences, we propose that these genetic factors delay but extend postnatal sensitive periods. This may explain why sensitive individuals show behavioral features that are characteristic of a young brain state at the level of sensory information processing, such as reduced filtering or blockade of irrelevant information, resulting in a sensory processing system that ‘keeps all options open’.
•Dopamine D4 receptor, serotonin transporter and BDNF genes are key modulators of environmental sensitivity.•Animals lacking the genes exhibit increased environmental sensitivity.•Environmental sensitivity may rely on extended and/or prolonged sensitive periods.•Environmental sensitivity may therefore be related to a young brain state.
Psychologists worldwide are becoming increasingly concerned about the negative impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on adolescents' mental health. However, compared to studies ...involving adults, research using a young population is limited. To further understand the mental health of older adolescents and young adults during the pandemic, the present study examined whether resilience, as a protective factor, buffers the relationship between the personality trait of environmental sensitivity and COVID-19-related distress. In total, 441 older adolescents and young adults (53.7% women, Mage = 18.91 years, SDage = 0.82 years) living in urban Japan completed an online cross-sectional survey in October 2020. The results showed that sensitivity was positively, though weakly, correlated with COVID-19 stress and negatively correlated with resilience. Resilience was negatively correlated with COVID-19 stress. Mediation analysis showed that resilience buffered the negative relationship between sensitivity and COVID-19 stress, and its indirect effect was statistically significant, albeit close to zero. These results suggest that higher sensitivity is not necessarily a vulnerability factor, if resilience can be enhanced.
The current case study focuses on the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) mapping of Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - a region at risk from petroleum sector pollution. By mapping 981.5 km of ...coastline and classifying it in 10 oil sensitivity indices, we integrated biotic resources, socioeconomic attributes, and geoenvironmental diversity into a georeferenced database. Results reveal a high oil sensitivity of the bay, with approximately 89 % of the mapped coast scoring ESI 8 and ESI 10. These scores comprise, respectively, estuarine and solid substrate habitats that are sheltered from wave action. Notably, numerous manufacturing and oil handling plants, along with intensive urbanization, also contribute to the bay's oil sensitivity. Additionally, the rich biotic diversity in the study area, particularly in protected areas housing 79 conservation units, further amplifies its environmental vulnerability. This study aims to serve as a reference for detailed ESI mapping of coastal areas in tropical rainy zones with significant environmental diversity, industrial development, and a dense population.
Meta-analyses on the effectiveness of antibullying interventions show that average effects tend to be significant but small. Informed by the vantage sensitivity framework, the current study aimed to ...test in a large randomized controlled trial whether individual differences in environmental sensitivity predict treatment response to an antibullying intervention. A total of 2,042 pupils (Grades 4 and 6) were randomly assigned to a treatment or control condition. Significant intervention effects on victimization and internalizing symptoms were moderated by both environmental sensitivity and gender: Boys who scored high on sensitivity benefited significantly more than did less sensitive boys from the effects of the intervention regarding reduced victimization and internalizing symptoms. The findings are consistent with the notion of vantage sensitivity, suggesting that some individuals are disproportionately likely to respond to treatment and others are more resistant as a function of individual differences in environmental sensitivity.
Ultra-low-wear PTFE nanocomposites rely heavily on water-dependent tribochemistry, which reinforces surfaces by anchoring tribochemically-modified chains to nanofillers and the countersurface. In a ...recent study, we showed that trace nanofillers (0.1 wt%) reduced the wear rates of an already low wear PEEK-PTFE blend by 40-fold with minimal tribochemistry. Interestingly, wear rates increased by 2-fold at 5 wt% nanofillers despite increased tribochemical accumulation. This observation raises questions about the tribochemical and mechanical roles of nanofillers in this material system, particularly at the surface. This paper aimed to isolate these effects. Specifically, we varied environmental humidity to promote or inhibit favorable tribochemical accumulation while maintaining subsurface stability via PEEK reinforcement. When we discouraged tribochemical reinforcement using a dry environment, high loadings of nanofillers had severely detrimental effects on wear rates and tribofilm stability. For example, the addition of 5 wt% nano-alumina to 5 wt% PEEK-PTFE increased wear rates by > 100-fold in the dry environment. By contrast, the addition of trace amounts (0.1 wt%) of nano-alumina had no detrimental effect on wear rate (10−7 mm3/Nm) or tribofilm stability. These results suggest that the mechanical effects of nanofillers were primarily destabilizing rather than stabilizing and that these effects increased with filler loading. In humid environments, however, these adverse effects of nanofillers, particularly at loadings >1 wt%, were offset by the favorable competing effect of tribochemical accumulation. Trace nanofiller loadings (∼0.1 wt%) optimized surface reinforcement at both environmental extremes because they provided the tribochemical benefits of the nanofillers while minimizing their mechanical costs.
•Tested the hypothesis that trace nanofillers reduce PTFE wear by non-tribochemical means.•Rejected the hypothesis and demonstrated detrimental mechanical effects from nanofillers.•Showed that trace nanofillers optimized PTFE wear performance in dry and humid environments.•Trace nanofillers provide tribochemical benefits while minimizing mechanical costs.
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