Developmental temperature predicts body size, flight, and pollen load in a widespread butterfly

Büyükyilmaz, Erez; Tseng, Michelle

doi:10.1111/een.13177

Cited by 6 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…We found no effect of wing size on flight metrics, nor did the data suggest a relationship between food type and wing size. Our results conflict with the findings of previous studies, which have found a positive correlation between wing size and flight metric performance in both lab-reared and wild-caught monarchs (Büyükyilmaz & Tseng, 2022).…”

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 99%

Larval diet impacts flight performance in monarch butterflies

Ebada,

de Roode,

Majewska

2023

Ecological Entomology

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Few studies have described the effects of larval diet quality on adult insect flight performance. Flight muscle development and high‐powered flight in insects are associated with costly energetic demands. Because larval diet is the energy source that powers these mechanisms, we asked whether larval diet has an impact on flight performance and metabolism in the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus Linnaeus). Monarch caterpillars from the eastern North American and Puerto Rican populations were fed a diet of either Asclepias incarnata L. (native to the eastern North American population) or Asclepias curassavica L. (native to the Puerto Rican population and uncommon in eastern North America). We flew the monarchs on a tethered flight mill to acquire flight performance metrics including velocity, distance, duration, power, and oxygen consumption rate. Monarchs reared on the A. incarnata L. milkweed showed slower, shorter, and less powerful flights than those fed on A. curassavica L. However, eastern North American and Puerto Rican monarchs, which were reared under summer conditions, did not differ in flight metrics or post‐flight metabolic rates. The results suggest that flight in eastern North American and Puerto Rican monarchs is similar during the breeding season, yet the milkweed the caterpillars consume has important implications for flight performance.

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Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 99%

Larval diet impacts flight performance in monarch butterflies

Ebada,

de Roode,

Majewska

2023

Ecological Entomology

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“…Contrary to such expectations, the flight of spring Pieris was significantly slower than that of summer individuals (Table 2). A lower flight speed in smaller individuals of P. rapaealbeit showing higher wing loadingwas also observed by Büyükyilmaz & Tseng (2022), who used a flight mill to measure velocity and covered distance of those butterflies. Similarly, Almbro and Kullberg (2012) noted that larger wing loading is associated with reduced flight speed in P. napi males, but not in females.…”

Section: Seasonal But Not Interspecific Morphological Differences Aff...supporting

confidence: 60%

“…Larval growth is affected by host plant species and their quality (Hwang et al, 2008), by ambient temperatures and photoperiod (Nylin, 1994). Low ambient temperatures experienced by immatures lead to the development of larger adult individuals of summer form, which may indirectly influence their faster flight compared to smaller individuals reared in colder conditions (Büyükyilmaz & Tseng, 2022). Shortening days towards the end of summer and autumn stimulate the initiation of the overwintering stage, pupae, resulting in smaller spring individuals (Wiklund et al 1991).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, insect wing is a complex trait, evolving under the effect multiple and sometimes conflictive selective pressures (Wootton 1992). The differences in shape could be driven by developmental conditions (Büyükyilmaz & Tseng, 2022) and differ among sexes (Breuker et al, 2007). Thus, the morphological divergence between seasonal forms may be conditioned by multiple selective pressures.…”

Section: Seasonal But Not Interspecific Morphological Differences Aff...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Flight behaviour diverges more between seasonal forms than between species inPierisbutterflies

Kleckova,

Linke,

Rezende

et al. 2023

Preprint

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In flying animals, wing morphology jointly evolves with flight behaviours. Whether seasonal polymorphism in butterfly wing morphology is linked to divergent flight behaviour is however not known. Here we compared the flight behaviour and the morphology between the spring and the summer forms of two closely related, temperate species,Pieris napiandP. rapae. We first quantify three-dimensional flight behaviour by reconstructing individual flight trajectories using stereoscopic high-speed videography in an experimental cage. We then measure wing size and shape characteristics assumed to influence flight behaviours in butterflies. We show that seasonal, but not interspecific, differences in flight behaviour might be associated with divergent forewing shapes, either elongated or rounded wings. InPierisspring forms, individuals are small and have elongated forewings, which are significantly correlated with low speed and acceleration, but with high flight curvature. LargePierissummer individuals exhibit rounded forewings, which are correlated with high flight speed, turning acceleration, and advance ratio. We interpret such results as potentially adaptive flight behaviours inPieris. Curvy flight trajectories in the spring forms may be a specialised foraging behaviour evolving in response to newly emerging feeding and oviposition resources. In contrast, the summer forms’ high flight speed and flight efficiency may be advantageous for dispersal to new habitats. Further, the recorded higher acceleration capacities of the summer form could have evolved in response to higher predation pressure. Our study provides quantitative evidence of divergent flight behaviours between seasonal forms ofPierisbutterflies correlated with differences in wing morphology. Seasonal flight behaviour could be adaptive, possibly driven by the interaction of various seasonal selection pressures, including resource distribution (nectar and larval food plants), predator and parasitoid pressure, and thermoregulation.

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“…Accordingly, there has been increasing interest in the effects of recent climate change on ectotherm body sizes (Daufresne et al., 2009; Scaven & Rafferty, 2013; Sheridan & Bickford, 2011). Several lines of evidence support the predictions of the temperature‐size rule, including controlled warming experiments (Büyükyilmaz & Tseng, 2022; Culler et al., 2015; Frouz et al., 2002; McCauley et al., 2015; Wonglersak et al., 2021), biogeographic comparisons of body size across latitudes (Baranov et al., 2022; Hassall, 2013; but see Shelomi, 2012), and comparisons between cohorts of multivoltine insects emerging at different times of the year (Horne et al., 2017). A meta‐analysis of warming experiments shows that one degree of warming can result in up to a 2.6% decrease in arthropod body size, although most changes are between 0.2% and 1.5% (Klok & Harrison, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 56%

Disentangling the drivers of decadal body size decline in an insect population

Botsch,

Zaveri,

Nell

et al. 2023

Global Change Biology

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While climate warming is widely predicted to reduce body size of ectotherms, evidence for this trend is mixed. Body size depends not only on temperature but also on other factors, such as food quality and intraspecific competition. Because temperature trends or other long‐term environmental factors may affect population size and food sources, attributing trends in average body size to temperature requires the separation of potentially confounding effects. We evaluated trends in the body size of the midge Tanytarsus gracilentus and potential drivers (water temperature, population size, and food quality) between 1977 and 2015 at Lake Mývatn, Iceland. Although temperatures increased at Mývatn over this period, there was only a slight (non‐significant) decrease in midge adult body size, contrary to theoretical expectations. Using a state‐space model including multiple predictors, body size was negatively associated with both water temperature and midge population abundance, and it was positively associated with 13C enrichment of midges (an indicator of favorable food conditions). The magnitude of these effects were similar, such that simultaneous changes in temperature, abundance, and carbon stable isotopic signature could counteract each other in the long‐term body size trend. Our results illustrate how multiple factors, all of which could be influenced by global change, interact to affect average ectotherm body size.

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Developmental temperature predicts body size, flight, and pollen load in a widespread butterfly

Cited by 6 publications

References 77 publications

Larval diet impacts flight performance in monarch butterflies

Larval diet impacts flight performance in monarch butterflies

Flight behaviour diverges more between seasonal forms than between species inPierisbutterflies

Disentangling the drivers of decadal body size decline in an insect population

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