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Relationships between water balance properties and habitat characteristics in the sibling Hawaiian Drosophilids, D. mimica and D. kambysellisi

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Summary

Four populations of Drosophila mimica and 1 population of D. kambysellisi collected at sites which differed in wetness were examined for several water balance characteristics. Net water loss per hour increased as av (relative humidity/100) decreased in all populations, but the rate of increase was lower in populations from dry sites. When exposed to 0.70 av, D. kambysellisi, which were from a rain forest, lost water faster and died sooner than did D. mimica. Two D. mimica collecting sites were divided into smaller units based on substrate type at one site and on litter wettness at the other site. The D. mimica at the first site were homogeneous with respect to the water balance properties studied here, but in the second site, there was evidence of population differentiation associated with litter wettness.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA

    I. A. Eckstrand & R. H. Richardson

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  1. I. A. Eckstrand
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  2. R. H. Richardson
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Supported by research grant NSF DEB77-23370, training grants NIH 5 TO1 GM 00337-16 and NIH 5 T32 GM 07126-02 and a Grant-in-Aid from the Sigma Xi Society

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Eckstrand, I.A., Richardson, R.H. Relationships between water balance properties and habitat characteristics in the sibling Hawaiian Drosophilids, D. mimica and D. kambysellisi . Oecologia 50, 337–341 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00344973

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00344973

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