Success Leads to More Diverse Deaths

Plasticity of phenotype
Can bridge a sudden, rising flood,
And give the genes time to decide

How to adapt to long-term change.
This is hopeful, ecologists
Note, given how floods are rising.

But what does this mean for offspring?
Plasticity buys each of you
A bit more time to reproduce

Some more variable offspring,
But then selection among them
For permanent adaptations

Requires weeding and winnowing
Of mutants and combinations.
In short, the more offspring you make,

The more chance some live to make more,
Plus the more that get shown the door.
Plasticity breeds more success,

And more successful breeding breeds
More offspring guaranteed to fail,
Fresh opportunities for death.