No evidence for developmental plasticity of color patterns in response to rearing substrate in pygmy grasshoppers

Karlsson, Magnus K.; Johansson, Jenny; Caesar, Sofia; Forsman, Anders

doi:10.1139/z09-097

Cited by 17 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…2). My overall results thus support the notion that pygmy grasshopper color morphs are strongly influenced by genetic cues or epigenetic maternal effects, but little affected by post-hatching developmental plasticity in response to environmental cues (Nabours 1929;Forsman et al 2002;Ahnesjö and Forsman 2003;Karlsson et al 2008;Karlsson et al 2009;Karlsson and Forsman 2010) (but see Hochkirch et al 2008). …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

“…Some morphs are monochrome but others have distinct pattern elements, such as longitudinal stripes along the median pronotum or specks or spots on the pronotum or jumping legs. All individuals are yellowish at hatching but they attain a darker brownish color within about 1 h. The different color morphs are indistinguishable in the first instars and their colors and patterns become more easily detectable, and alternative color morphs can be more accurately classified, as individuals grow larger (Karlsson et al 2009). …”

Section: Study Speciesmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Previous work indicate that pygmy grasshopper color morphs are irreversible and don't undergo any changes between instar stages other than the modifications of pigmentation pattern that associated with growth and changes in body shape (Nabours 1929;Forsman et al 2002;Ahnesjö and Forsman 2003;Karlsson et al 2008;Karlsson et al 2009;Karlsson and Forsman 2010) (but see Hochkirch et al 2008). …”

Section: Source Population and Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rethinking the thermal melanism hypothesis: rearing temperature and coloration in pygmy grasshoppers

Forsman

2011

Evol Ecol

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Selection for efficient conversion of solar radiation to body heat has favored the evolution of dark coloration in many ectotherms. The thermal melanism hypothesis posits that dark coloration is beneficial under conditions of low ambient temperatures because it results in faster heating rates and higher body temperatures. Fast heating rates, however, may come at a cost of overheating unless compensated for by thermal physiology or behaviour. Pygmy grasshopper (Orthoptera, Tetrigidae) populations that inhabit fire-ravaged areas characterized by blackened backgrounds and hot surface temperatures due to high absorbance of solar radiation show an increased frequency of black phenotypes. I raised the progeny of wild-captured Tetrix undulata in cold and hot temperatures and used data on color patterns and survival in a greenhouse to examine whether a cold thermal environment triggered the development of melanic coloration or differently affected survival of melanic versus non-melanic individuals. My results indicate that melanism was not influenced by rearing temperature but by genes or epigenetic maternal effects. Temperature also did not affect survival. However, melanic individuals produced by melanic mothers survived longer than melanic individuals produced by non-melanic mothers, whereas nonmelanic individuals produced by non-black mothers survived longer than melanic individuals produced by non-black mothers. This suggests a mismatch between color and physiology in offspring belonging to a different color morph than their mother. Future investigations into the evolution of melanism should consider conflicting selection pressures on thermal capacity and camouflage as well as the influence of correlated responses to selection on traits associated with coloration.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Section: Study Speciesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Source Population and Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rethinking the thermal melanism hypothesis: rearing temperature and coloration in pygmy grasshoppers

Forsman

2011

Evol Ecol

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“…Ground colours are black, brown, reddish-brown, olive green, and light grey, and some morphs are monochrome while others have distinct specks, spots or a longitudinal stripe on the dorsal surface of the pronotum (Karlsson et al 2008;Caesar et al 2010). Data from an extensive breeding program on closely related Tetrigid species have shown that colour morphs are genetic (Nabours 1929), and more recent investigations of T. subulata have uncovered strong family effects, a high resemblance of colour patterns between mothers and offspring, and no developmental plasticity of colour pattern in response to environmental cues (Karlsson et al 2009;Karlsson and Forsman 2010;Forsman et al 2011) (but see Hochkirch et al 2008). Previous studies have also uncovered morphological, behavioural (Forsman 2000;Ahnesjö and Forsman 2006), physiological (Forsman 1997) and life-history (Forsman 1999a;Forsman et al 2002) differences among morphs.…”

Section: Study Species and Experimental Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Matching habitat choice by experimentally mismatched phenotypes

2011

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Gene flow is often regarded a random process that homogenizes differences between populations and constrains local adaptation. However, the matching habitat choice hypothesis posits that individuals actively choose those microhabitats that best match their specific phenotype to maximize fitness. Dispersal (and possibly gene flow) may thus be directed. Many studies report associations between habitats and phenotypes, but they may reflect selection, plasticity or adaptation rather than matching choice. Here, we test two predictions from the matching habitat choice hypothesis by manipulating the dorsal colour of Tetrix subulata, a pygmy grasshopper. (1) Is microhabitat choice flexible such that differently manipulated phenotypes distribute themselves differently in a microclimatic and solar radiation mosaic? (2) If they do, are their fitness prospects higher in the more preferred microhabitat? We find that individuals painted white or black do distribute themselves differently, with black individuals residing in habitats with less radiation, on average, than white individuals, demonstrating that microhabitat choices are plastic. Furthermore, white females had more hatchlings than black ones in the increased radiation treatment, and this was mainly due to increased mortality of black females under increased radiation. These findings provide rare experimental evidence in line with predictions from the matching habitat choice hypothesis.

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“…The genetic mechanisms underpinning the variation in color and pattern, and associated traits, in pygmy grasshoppers are not known in any detail. However, results from captive breeding, parent offspring resemblance studies, common garden and split-brood design-rearing experiments indicate that color morphs are genetically determined and not influenced by developmental plasticity (e.g., Karlsson et al 2009. Pygmy grasshopper color morphs represent integrated phenotypes that covary with other ecologically important traits such as preferred body temperatures, thermal physiology, reproductive life history (egg and clutch size, inter-clutch interval), body size, predator avoidance behavior, microhabitat utilization, and diet (e.g., Caesar et al 2010, and references therein).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Higher establishment success in more diverse groups of pygmy grasshoppers under seminatural conditions

Wennersten

Johansson

Karpestam

et al. 2012

Ecology

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Abstract. Large founder groups and habitat match have been shown to increase the establishment success of reintroduced populations. Theory posits that the diversity of founder groups should also be important, but this has rarely been investigated. Here, experimental introductions of color-polymorphic Tetrix subulata pygmy grasshoppers into outdoor enclosures were used to test whether higher phenotypic diversity promotes establishment success. We show that the number of individuals present one year after introduction increases with color morph diversity in founder groups. Variance in establishment success did not decrease with increasing founder diversity, arguing against an important contribution of sampling effects or evolutionary rescue. Color morphs in T. subulata covary with a suite of other functionally important traits and utilize different resources. The higher establishment success in more diverse founder groups may therefore result, in part, from niche complementarity. Variation in establishment among groups was not associated with differences among source populations in reproductive capacities.

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No evidence for developmental plasticity of color patterns in response to rearing substrate in pygmy grasshoppers

Cited by 17 publications

References 32 publications

Rethinking the thermal melanism hypothesis: rearing temperature and coloration in pygmy grasshoppers

Rethinking the thermal melanism hypothesis: rearing temperature and coloration in pygmy grasshoppers

Matching habitat choice by experimentally mismatched phenotypes

Higher establishment success in more diverse groups of pygmy grasshoppers under seminatural conditions

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