FITNESS COSTS OF RAPID COLD-HARDENING IN CERATITIS CAPITATA

Journal article

Authors / Editors

Research Areas

No matching items found.

Publication Details

Author list: Basson CH, Nyamukondiwa C, Terblanche JS

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Place: HOBOKEN

Publication year: 2012

Journal acronym: EVOLUTION

Volume number: 66

Issue number: 1

Start page: 296

End page: 304

Number of pages: 9

ISSN: 0014-3820

eISSN: 1558-5646

Languages: English-Great Britain (EN-GB)

View in Web of Science | View on publisher site | View citing articles in Web of Science

Abstract

Rapid cold-hardening (RCH) is a unique form of phenotypic plasticity which confers survival advantages at low temperature. The fitness costs of RCH are generally poorly elucidated and are important to understanding the evolution of plastic physiology. This study examined whether RCH responses, induced by ecologically relevant diel temperature fluctuations, carry metabolic, survival, or fecundity costs. We predicted that potential costs in RCH would be manifested as differences in metabolic rate, fecundity, or survival in flies which have hardened versus those which have not, or flies that have experienced more RCH events would show greater costs than those which have experienced fewer events. One group of flies cooled to 10 degrees C for 2 h for 11 consecutive days experienced daily RCH (Hardened), whereas the other group exposed to 15 degrees C for the same 2-h period each day formed a Control group. Hardened flies had higher survival at 5 degrees C for 2 h than control flies (69 +/- 9% vs. 44 +/- 19%, P = 0.04). Hardened flies showed no metabolic or fecundity costs, but had reduced average survival (P = 0.0403). Thus, a major cost to repeated low temperature exposures in Ceratitis capitata is through direct mortality caused by chilling injury, although this appears not to be a direct cost of RCH.

Keywords

Drosophila, fecundity, metabolic rate, rapid cold-hardening

Documents

No matching items found.