Biological organisms experience constantly changing environments, from sudden changes in physiology brought about by feeding, to the regular rising and setting of the Sun, to ecological changes over evolutionary timescales. Living organisms have evolved to thrive in this changing world but the general principles by which organisms shape and are shaped by time varying environments remain elusive. Our understanding is particularly poor in the intermediate regime with no separation of timescales, where the environment changes on the same timescale as the physiological or evolutionary response. Experiments to systematically characterize the response to dynamic environments are challenging since such environments are inherently high dimensional. This roadmap deals with the unique role played by time varying environments in biological phenomena across scales, from physiology to evolution, seeking to emphasize the commonalities and the challenges faced in this emerging area of research.

生物有机体经历着不断变化的环境，从进食带来的生理突然变化，到太阳有规律的升起和落下，再到进化时间尺度上的生态变化。生物体已经进化到可以在这个不断变化的世界中茁壮成长，但生物体塑造和被时变环境塑造的一般原则仍然难以捉摸。在没有时间尺度分离的中间状态下，我们的理解特别差，环境在与生理或进化反应相同的时间尺度上发生变化。系统地表征对动态环境的响应的实验具有挑战性，因为此类环境本质上是高维的。