Social and physical environment independently affect oviposition decisions in<i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>

Churchill, Emily R.; Dytham, Calvin; Bridle, Jon R.; Thom, Michael D.

doi:10.1101/2021.01.27.428449

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…By contrast, the cage environment may exacerbate fitness variation associated with cold tolerance because it reduces the opportunity for flies to behaviourally thermoregulate (e.g., by seeking out more hospitable microclimates), or to actively forage for mates or oviposition sites, all of which are behaviours that are highly sophisticated in Drosophila (e.g. Churchill et al, 2020, Churchill et al, 2021, Malek & Long, 2020). Such behaviours would reduce variation in the strength of selection across the gradient, therefore the spatial variation in selection on cold tolerance that we detect from our estimates of cage fitness may be less pronounced under natural conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in the strength of selection but no trait divergence between elevational extremes in a tropical rainforestDrosophila

O’Brien

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Saxon

et al. 2021

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Evolutionary responses to environmental change require heritable variation in traits under selection. Both heritability and selection vary with the environment, and may also covary, meaning that environmental variation can be an important source of evolutionary constraint. However, estimates of heritability and selection along environmental gradients in the field are rare. We estimated environmental variation in selection on three traits (cold tolerance, heat tolerance and wing size) of the rainforest fly Drosophila birchii by transplanting flies in cages along two elevational gradients in north-east Queensland, Australia, and calculating the genetic covariance of trait values with cage productivity at each elevation. We estimated heritability of each trait from laboratory crosses, and environmental variation in heritability of wing size from the correlation of mothers and daughters in cages at each elevation. We then used estimates of selection and heritability to predict selection responses along the elevation gradients. Laboratory assays revealed low-moderate genetic variation in all traits and low covariation among traits, suggesting the potential for a strong response to selection. Estimated selection responses predicted divergence of cold tolerance with elevation at one gradient. However, this was not observed at either gradient, with no difference between high and low elevation populations for this trait. Despite substantial variation in heritability (and predicted selection response) of wing size, this appeared random with respect to elevation, preventing overall divergence and suggesting that local environmental variation constrains evolutionary responses along natural ecological gradients. Such an effect, if widespread, may significantly slow evolutionary responses to environmental change.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in the strength of selection but no trait divergence between elevational extremes in a tropical rainforestDrosophila

O’Brien

Higgie

Saxon

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…Analyses reported in this article can be reproduced using the data provided by Churchill et al (2021) .…”

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confidence: 99%

Social and physical environment independently affect oviposition decisions in Drosophila

et al. 2021

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In response to environmental stimuli, including variation in the presence of conspecifics, genotypes show highly plastic responses in behavioral and physiological traits influencing reproduction. Although extensively documented in males, such female responses are rather less studied. We expect females to be highly responsive to environmental variation and to differentially allocate resources to increase offspring fitness, given the major contribution of mothers to offspring number, size, and developmental conditions. Using Drosophila melanogaster, we (a) manipulate exposure to conspecific females, which mothers could use to anticipate the number of potential mates and larval density, and; (b) test how this interacts with the spatial distribution of potential oviposition sites, with females from higher densities expected to prefer clustered resources that can support a larger number of larvae. We found that high density females were slower to start copulating and reduced their copulation duration, the opposite effect to that observed in males. There was a parallel, perhaps related, effect on egg production: females previously housed in groups laid fewer eggs than those housed in solitude. Resource patchiness also influenced oviposition behavior: females preferred aggregated substrate, which attracted more females to lay eggs. However, we found no interaction between prior housing conditions and resource patchiness, indicating that females did not perceive the value of different resource distributions differently when exposed to environments that could signal expected levels of larval competition. We show that, although exposure to consexual competition changes copulatory behaviors of females, the distribution of oviposition resources has a greater effect on oviposition decisions.

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“…Females exposed to other females prior to mating also increase their latency to start mating, and lay fewer eggs over the following 24‐h period (Churchill et al. 2021; Fowler et al. 2021).…”

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“…Studies of the responses of females to their social environments are becoming more frequent (Churchill et al. 2021; Fowler et al. 2021).…”

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Plastic responses of males and females interact to determine mating behavior

et al. 2022

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Individuals can respond plastically to variation in their social environment. However, each sex may respond to different cues and contrasting aspects of competition. Theory suggests that the plastic phenotype expressed by one sex can influence evolutionary dynamics in the other, and that plasticity simultaneously expressed by both sexes can exert sex-specific effects on fitness. However, data are needed to test this theory base. Here, we examined whether the simultaneous expression of adaptive plasticity by both sexes of Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies in response to their respective social environments interacts to determine the value of key reproductive traits (mating latency, duration, and fecundity). To vary social environments, males were kept alone, or with same sex rivals, and females were kept alone, in same-sex, or mixed-sex groups. Matings were then conducted between individuals from all of these five social treatments in all combinations, and the resulting reproductive traits measured in both "choice" and "no-choice" assays. Mating latency was determined by an interaction between the plastic responses of both sexes to their social environments. Interestingly, the mating latency response occurred in opposing directions in the different assays. In females exposed to same-sex social treatments, mating latency was more rapid with rival treatment males in the choice assays, but slower with those same males in no-choice assays. In contrast, mating duration was determined purely by responses of males to their social environments, and fecundity purely by responses of females. Collectively, the results show that plastic responses represent an important and novel facet of sexual interactions.

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Social and physical environment independently affect oviposition decisions inDrosophila melanogaster

Cited by 7 publications

References 50 publications

Variation in the strength of selection but no trait divergence between elevational extremes in a tropical rainforestDrosophila

Variation in the strength of selection but no trait divergence between elevational extremes in a tropical rainforestDrosophila

Social and physical environment independently affect oviposition decisions in Drosophila

Plastic responses of males and females interact to determine mating behavior

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