Question

What is the difference between a phenotypic change that is due to a plastic response to the environment (AKA acclimation) and a phenotypic change that is due to an adaptive evolutionary response?

Answer 1

Phenotypic change due to plastic response to the environment reffers to some of the changes in an organisms behaviour ,morphology and physiology in response to a unique environment. Depending on the way in which organisms cope with the environmental variation ,phenotypic plasticity encompanses all types of environmentally possible induced changes that may or may not be persistent througout an individuals lifespan.

plasticity due to evolutionary adaptation to the environment is reasonably predictable and occurs within the lifespan of an individual organisms, as it allows the individuals to fit their phenotypes to different environments .