Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Variations in morphological and life-history traits under extreme temperatures in Drosophila ananassae

  • Published:
Journal of Biosciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Using half-sib analysis, we analysed the consequences of extreme rearing temperatures on genetic and phenotypic variations in the morphological and life-history traits of Drosophila ananassae. Paternal half-sib covariance contains a relatively small proportion of the epistatic variance and lacks the dominance variance and variance due to maternal effect, which provides more reliable estimates of additive genetic variance. Experiments were performed on a mass culture population of D. ananassae collected from Kanniyakumari (India). Two extremely stressful temperatures (18°C and 32°C) and one standard temperature (25°C) were used to examine the effect of stressful and non-stressful environments on the morphological and life-history traits in males and females. Mean values of various morphological traits differed significantly among different temperature regimens in both males and females. Rearing at 18°C and 32°C resulted in decreased thorax length, wing-to-thorax (w/t) ratio, sternopleural bristle number, ovariole number, sex comb-tooth number and testis length. Phenotypic variances increased under stressful temperatures in comparison with non-stressful temperatures. Heritability and evolvability based on among-sires (males), among-dams (females), and the sum of the two components (sire + dam) showed higher values at both the stressful temperatures than at the non-stressful temperature. These differences reflect changes in additive genetic variance. Viability was greater at the high than the low extreme temperature. As viability is an indicator of stress, we can assume that stress was greater at 18°C than at 32°C in D. ananassae. The genetic variations for all the quantitative and life-history traits were higher at low temperature. Variation in sexual traits was more pronounced as compared with other morphometric traits, which shows that sexual traits are more prone to thermal stress. Our results agree with the hypothesis that genetic variation is increased in stressful environments.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

CV:

coefficient of variation

FA:

fluctuating asymmetry

Hsp:

heat-shock protein

w/t:

wing/thorax

References

  • Andrewartha H G and Birch L C 1960 Some recent contributions to the study of the distribution and abundance of insects; Annu. Rev. Entomol. 5 219–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blum A 1988 Plant breeding for stress environments (Boca Raton: CRC Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Barker J S F and Krebs R A 1995 Genetic variation and plasticity of thorax length and wing length in Drosophila aldrichi and D. buzzatii; J. Evol. Biol. 8 689–708

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker H S 1935 Influence of temperature on testis size in Drosophila pseudoobscur; Am. Nat 69 412–416

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanckenhorn W U and Hellriegel B 2002 Against Bergmann’s rule: fly sperm size increases with temperature; Ecol. Lett. 5 7–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bubliy O A and Loeschcke V 2001 High stressful temperature and genetic variation of five quantitative traits in Drosophila melanogaster; Genetica 110 79–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bubliy O A and Loeschcke V 2002 Low stressful temperature and genetic variation of five quantitative traits in Drosophila melanogaster; Heredity 89 70–75

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bubliy O A, Imasheva A G and Loeschcke V 2000 Half-sib analysis of three morphological traits in Drosophila melanogaster under poor nutrition; Hereditas 133 59–63

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bubliy O A, Loeschcke V and Imasheva A G 2001 Genetic variation in morphological traits in Drosophila melanogaster under poor nutrition: isofemale lines and offspring-parent regression; Heredity 86 363–369

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • David J R, Moreteau B, Gauthier J R, Petavy G, Stockel J and Imasheva A 1994 Reaction norm of size character in relation to growth temperature in Drosophila melanogaster: an isofemale lines analysis; Genet. Sel. Evol. 26 229–251

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Moed G H, de Jong G and Scharloo W 1997 Environmental effects on body size variation in Drosophila melanogaster and its cellular basis; Genet. Res. 70 35–43

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Falconer D S and Mackay T F C 1996 Introduction to quantitative genetics (UK: Longman Harlow)

    Google Scholar 

  • Gebhardt M D and Stearns S C 1992 Phenotypic plasticity for life-history traits in Drosophila melanogaster. III. Effect of the environment on genetic parameters; Genet. Res. 60 87–101

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Giesel J T, Murphy P A and Manlove M N 1982 The importance of temperature on genetic interrelationship of life-history traits in a population of Drosophila melanogaster: what tangled data sets we weave; Am. Nat. 119 464–479

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann A A and Hercus M J 2000 Environmental stress as an evolutionary force; Bioscience 50 217–226

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann A A and Parsons P A 1991 Evolutionary genetics and environmental stress (Oxford: Oxford University Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann A A and Schiffer M 1998 Changes in heritability of five morphological traits under combined environmental stresses in Drosophila melanogaster; Evolution 52 1207–1212

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoffmann A, Sorensen J G and Loeschcke V 2003 Adaptation of Drosophila to temperature extremes: bringing together quantitative and molecular approaches; J. Therm. Biol. 28 175–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holloway G J, Povey S R and Sibly R M 1990 The effect of new environment on adapted genetic architecture; Heredity 64 323–330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Imasheva A G and Bubliy O A 2003 Quantitative variation of four morphological traits in Drosophila melanogaster under larval crowding; Hereditas 138 193–199

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Imasheva A G, Loeschcke V, Zhivotovsky L A and Lazebny O E 1997 Effects of extreme temperatures on phenotypic variation and developmental stability in Drosophila melanogaster and D. buzzatii; Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 61 117–126

    Google Scholar 

  • Imasheva A G, Loeschcke V, Zhivotovsky L A and Lazebny O E 1998 Stress temperature and quantitative variation in Drosophila melanogaster; Heredity 81 246–253

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Imasheva A G, Bosenko D V and Bubliy O A 1999 Variation in morphological traits of Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) under nutritional stress; Heredity 82 187–192

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Imasheva A G, Moreteau B and David J R 2000 Growth temperature and genetic variability of wing dimensions in Drosophila: opposite trends in two sibling species; Genet. Res. 76 237–247

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson G R and Frey K J 1967 Heritabilities of quantitative attributes of oats (Arena sp.) at varying levels of environmental stress; Crop Sci. 7 43–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jink J L, Perkins J M and Pooni H S 1973. The incidence of epistasis in normal and extreme environments; Heredity 31 263–269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karan D, Morin J P, Gravot E, Moreteau B and David J R 1999 Body size reaction norms in Drosophila melanogaster: temporal stability and genetic architecture in a natural population; Genet. Sel. Evol. 31 491–508

    Google Scholar 

  • Kawecki T J 1995 Expression of genetic and environmental variation for life history on the usual and novel host in Callosobruchus maculatus (Coleoptera: Bruchidae); Heredity 75 70–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leather S, Walters K and Bale J 1993 The ecology of insects overwintering (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Loeschcke V, Bundgaard J and Barker J S F 1999 Reaction norms across and genetic parameters at different temperatures for thorax and wing size traits in Drosophila aldrichi and D. buzzatii; Genet. Sel. Evol. 31 491–508

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy P A, Giesel J T and Manlove M N 1983 Temperature effect on life-history variation in Drosophila simulans; Evolution 37 1181–1192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neyfakh A A and Hartl D L 1993 Genetic control of the rate of the embryonic development: selection for faster development at elevated temperatures; Evolution 47 1625–1631

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noach E J K, de Jong G and Scharloo W 1996 Phenotypic plasticity in morphological traits in two populations of Drosophila melanogaster; J. Evol. Biol. 9 831–844

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noory, F M, Scannpieco A C, Sambucetti P, Bertoli C I and Loeschcke V 2008 QTL for the thermotolerance effect of heat hardening, knockdown resistance to heat and chill-coma recovery in an intercontinental set of recombinant inbred lines of Drosophila melanogaster; Mol. Ecol. 17 4570–4581

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Parsons P A 1987 Evolutionary rates under environmental stress; Evol. Biol. 14 297–350

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsons P A 1989 Environmental stresses and conservation of natural populations; Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 20 29–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Partridge L and Coyne J A 1997 Bergmann’s rule in ectotherms: is it adaptive?; Evolution 5 632–635

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pigliucci M, Schlichting C D and Whitton J 1995 Reaction norm of Arabidopsis. 2. Response to stress and unordered environmental variation; Func. Ecol. 9 537–547

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rutherford S I and Linquist S 1998 Hsp90 as a capacitor for morphological evolution; Nature (London) 396 336–342

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sisodia S and Singh B N 2002 Effect of temperature on longevity and productivity in Drosophila ananassae: evidence for adaptive plasticity and trade-off between longevity and productivity; Genetica 114 95–102

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sisodia S and Singh B N 2006 Effect of exposure to short-term heat stress on survival and fecundity in Drosophila ananassae; Can. J. Zool. 84 895–899

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sgro C M and Hoffmann A A 1998 Effects of temperature extremes on genetic variances for life-history traits in Drosophila melanogaster and their offspring reared under different environmental temperatures; Evolution 52 134–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sgro C M and Hoffmann A A 2004 Genetic correlations, tradeoffs and environmental variation; Heredity 93 241–248

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Swindell W R and Bouzat J L 2006 Association between environmental stress, selection history and quantitative genetic variation in Drosophila melanogaster; Genetica 127 311–320

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tantawy A O and Mallah G S 1961 Studies on natural populations of Drosophila. I. Heat resistance and geographical variation in Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans; Evolution 15 1–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tantawy A O, Mallah G S and Tewfik H R 1964 Studies on natural populations of Drosophila. II. Heritability and response to selection for wing length in Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans at different temperatures; Genetics 49 935–948

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vishalakshi C and Singh B N 2008a Effect of developmental temperature stress on fluctuating asymmetry in certain morphological traits in Drosophila ananassae; J. Therm. Biol. 33 201–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vishalakshi C and Singh B N 2008b Effect of environmental stress on fluctuating asymmetry in certain morphological traits in Drosophila ananassae: nutrition and larval crowding; Can. J. Zool. 6 427–437

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waddington C H 1961 Genetic assimilation; Adv. Genet. 10 257–293

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Woods R E, Sgro C M, Hercus M J and Hoffmann A A 1999 The association between fluctuating asymmetry, trait variability, trait heritability, and stress: a multiply replicated experiment on combined stresses in Drosophila melanogaster; Evolution 53 493–505

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yadav J P and Singh B N 2005 Evolutionary genetics of Drosophila ananassae. III. Effect of temperature on certain fitness traits in two natural populations; J. Therm. Biol. 30 457–466

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhivotovsky L, Feldman M W and Bergman A 1996 On the evolution of phenotypic plasticity in a spatially heterogeneous environment; Evolution 50 547–558

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhivotovsky L, Feldman M W and Bergman A 1997 Fitness patterns and phenotypic plasticity in a spatially heterogeneous environment; Genet. Res. 68 241–249

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Genetics Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221 005, India

    Seema Sisodia & B. N. Singh

Authors
  1. Seema Sisodia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. B. N. Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to B. N. Singh.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sisodia, S., Singh, B.N. Variations in morphological and life-history traits under extreme temperatures in Drosophila ananassae . J Biosci 34, 263–274 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-009-0030-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-009-0030-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation