Cold tolerance in relation to developmental and adult temperature in a butterfly

Abstract

Abstract. Larvae of the butterfly Lycaena tityrus (Poda) are reared at 20 or 27 °C until adult eclosion, after which they are maintained at the same temperature or are transferred to the alternate temperature. The resulting adults are exposed to −20 °C for 8 min, returned to ambient temperature, and the recovery time to standing position is recorded. On the day of eclosion, individuals reared at 20 °C show 19% shorter recovery times than individuals reared at 27 °C. This effect of developmental temperature disappears when the same animals are tested 3 and 6 days later. However, adult temperature did not affect recovery time in these animals, presumably due to over‐riding effects of previous cold shocks. This is suggested by another set of animals, not having experienced previous cold shocks, demonstrating recovery times that are 28% shorter in individuals maintained as adults for 3 days at 20 compared to 27 °C. Thus, L. tityrus appears to be capable of adapting to local temperatures.

The relative contributions of developmental plasticity and adult acclimation to physiological variation in the tsetse fly, Glossina pallidipes (Diptera, Glossinidae)

“…These two nested ANOVAs present complimentary perspectives on the relative importance of plasticity type and treatment temperature for variation in each of the traits. Previous work demonstrated that the effects of developmental plasticity can be altered following adult acclimation for several traits (Fischer et al, 2003;Zeilstra and Fischer, 2005). Therefore we expected equal contributions of plasticity types to total variance.…”

“…Nonetheless, strong opposing responses to high and low temperature treatments for lower thermal limits have been found in several other studies, though typically these examined acclimation effects on a single stage only (e.g. Ayrinhac et al, 2004;Hoffmann et al, 2005b;Klok and Chown, 2003;Slabber and Chown, 2005;Terblanche et al, 2005b;Zeilstra and Fischer, 2005). Likewise, asymmetric or threshold effects of treatment temperature have previously been recorded for T crit,max (Hoffmann et al, 2005b;Klok and Chown, 1998;Slabber and Chown, 2005), metabolic rate (Hoffmann, 1985;Terblanche et al, 2005a) and desiccation rate (Rourke, 2000).…”

“…Developmental plasticity following the 29°C temperature treatments was significant and irreversible for T crit,min and desiccation rate, but the pupal treatment was either reversed or had little effect following the 21°C treatment for these traits and for both temperature treatments in the other traits. The absence of reversibility in T crit,min following exposure to 29°C is unlike the situation in Lycaena tityrus, in which lower thermal limits that change within the pupal stage are typically reversible in the adults (Zeilstra and Fischer, 2005). No other work has examined the effects of developmental plasticity on desiccation rate in insects, but clearly it is significant.…”

“…The most detailed work to date has been that of Fischer and coworkers (Fischer et al, 2003;Zeilstra and Fischer, 2005). In the first study (Fischer et al, 2003), rearing temperature had a substantial effect on the size of eggs laid by Bicyclus anynana butterflies.…”

“…Thus, the magnitude of the developmental plasticity and adult acclimation effects was similar. The second study (Zeilstra and Fischer, 2005) used Lycaena tityrus and again found that the effects of developmental plasticity on recovery time from cold shock were largely reversible. They also found that as long as newly eclosed adults were not exposed to cold shock, adult temperatures (i.e.…”