Ecotypic differentiation matters for latitudinal variation in energy metabolism and flight performance in a butterfly under climate change

Abstract

Life histories of organisms may vary with latitude as they experience different thermal constraints and challenges. This geographic, intraspecific variation could be of significance for range dynamics under climate change beyond edge-core comparisons. In this study, we did a reciprocal transplant experiment between the temperature-regimes of two latitudes with an ectotherm insect, examining the effects on energy metabolism and flight performance. Pararge aegeria expanded its ecological niche from cool woodland (ancestral) to warmer habitat in agricultural landscape (novel ecotype). Northern males had higher standard metabolic rates than southern males, but in females these rates depended on their ecotype. Southern males flew for longer than northern ones. In females, body mass-corrected flight performance depended on latitude and thermal treatment during larval development and in case of the southern females, their interaction. Our experimental study provides evidence for the role of ecological differentiation at the core of the range to modulate ecophysiology and flight performance at different latitudes, which in turn may affect the climatic responsiveness of the species.

Takeoff temperatures in Melitaea cinxia butterflies from latitudinal and elevational range limits: a potential adaptation to solar irradiance

“…Such species might be expected to adapt genetically to their local climates, adaptation that can be illuminated by reciprocal transplants (Van Dyck & Holveck, 2016) or by comparing individuals raised under the same conditions but sourced from regions in different parts of the species' range. Such species might be expected to adapt genetically to their local climates, adaptation that can be illuminated by reciprocal transplants (Van Dyck & Holveck, 2016) or by comparing individuals raised under the same conditions but sourced from regions in different parts of the species' range.…”

“…Non-migratory butterfly species such as M. cinxia can have ranges encompassing very different climates. Such species might be expected to adapt genetically to their local climates, adaptation that can be illuminated by reciprocal transplants (Van Dyck & Holveck, 2016) or by comparing individuals raised under the same conditions but sourced from regions in different parts of the species' range. The present study found evidence of local adaptations in a simple but important trait, body temperature at spontaneous takeoff.…”

Cold adaptation across the elevation gradient in an alpine butterfly species complex

“…Females have a significantly greater weight than males and presumably different energetic/metabolic constrains linked to oviposition requirements (Kvist et al, 2015). In support of the hypothesis of sex-dependent strategies in butterflies, both flight performance and flight metabolic rate were shown to respond differently to temperature in males and females in Pararge aegeria (Van Dyck & Holveck, 2016), and heating rate ability was found to be sex-dependant in Pieris brassicae (Ducatez et al, 2013).…”

The effects of insecticides on butterflies – A review

“…Speckled Wood butterflies (P. aegeria), for example, are an emerging developmental genetic model system to study growth, development (including embryogenesis) and the production of reproductive cells (Carter et al, 2013;Carter et al, 2015;Schmidt-Ott and Lynch, 2016). It is also a species whose habitat has expanded from forests to include agricultural fields and urbanised environments, providing an opportunity to gauge the effects on pesticide exposure on local populations in a (meta-)population network (Van Dyck and Holveck, 2016). Given the fact that many pesticides affect development, growth and reproduction (e.g.…”