Yeah, TBH I don't think I understand paramutation enough to explain it, even after reading this a couple of times. I wonder if paramutations themselves might be activated or inactivated by environmental factors. For example, perhaps in times of environmental stress paramutation can be enhanced, leading to more phenotypic variability, and thus, more possibilities to find a more advantageous phenotype. I have to think that dogs have to have some of this going on. I recall reading a study that it only takes a few generations of selective breeding to turn a wild canine into a very different-looking domestic dog.Interestingly, paramutation can result in a single allele of a gene controlling a spectrum of phenotypes. At r1 in maize, for example, the weaker expression state adopted by a paramutant allele can range from completely colorless to nearly fully colored kernels. This is an exception to the general observation that traits that vary along a continuum are usually controlled by multiple genes.