I know I can theoretically answer this question myself with some testing + time, but figured I’d just ask since it’s probably useful for others:
When one of the plugins used in my app is able to be upgraded, when I upgrade it, is the live version of my app impacted immediately, or does it remain on the previous version so that I can test the impact of the upgrade in /version-test?
Okay since no takers I decided to just test it and see what happened since it was low risk enough to undo. The answer is no: As one would hope/expect, plugin versions are maintained separately between dev and live (and presumably any other versions for those on the higher plans), so you can upgrade freely in dev without worry.