Gilchrist George W, Huey Raymond B, Balanyà Joan, Pascual Marta, Serra Luis
Department of Biology, Box 8795, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia 23187-8795, USA.
Evolution. 2004 Apr;58(4):768-80. doi: 10.1111/j.0014-3820.2004.tb00410.x.
Drosophila subobscura is geographically widespread in the Old World. Around the late 1970s, it was accidentally introduced into both South and North America, where it spread rapidly over broad latitudinal ranges. This invading species offers opportunities to study the speed and predictability of trait evolution on a geographic scale. One trait of special interest is body size, which shows a strong and positive latitudinal cline in many Drosophila species, including Old World D. subobscura. Surveys made about a decade after the invasion found no evidence of a size cline in either North or South America. However, a survey made in North America about two decades after the invasion showed that a conspicuous size cline had evolved and (for females) was coincident with that for Old World flies. We have now conducted parallel studies on 10 populations (13 degrees of latitude) of flies, collected in Chile in spring 1999. After rearing flies in the laboratory for several generations, we measured wing sizes and compared geographic patterns (versus latitude or temperature) for flies on all three continents. South American females have now evolved a significant latitudinal size cline that is similar in slope to that of Old World and of North American flies. Rates of evolution (haldanes) for females are among the highest ever measured for quantitative traits. In contrast, the size cline is positive but not significant for South or North American males. At any given latitude, South American flies of both sexes are relatively large; this in part reflects the relatively cool climate of coastal Chile. Interestingly, the sections of the wing that generate the size cline for females differ among all three continents. Thus, although the evolution of overall wing size is predictable on a geographic scale (at least for females), the evolution of size of particular wing components is decidedly not.
暗果蝇在旧大陆广泛分布。大约在20世纪70年代末,它被意外引入南美洲和北美洲,在那里它迅速在广阔的纬度范围内扩散。这种入侵物种为在地理尺度上研究性状进化的速度和可预测性提供了机会。一个特别有趣的性状是体型,在许多果蝇物种中,包括旧大陆的暗果蝇,体型都呈现出强烈的正向纬度梯度变化。入侵大约十年后进行的调查没有发现南美洲或北美洲存在体型梯度变化的证据。然而,入侵大约二十年后在北美洲进行的一项调查显示,明显的体型梯度变化已经进化出来,并且(对于雌性来说)与旧大陆果蝇的体型梯度变化一致。我们现在对1999年春季在智利采集的10个种群(跨越13个纬度)的果蝇进行了平行研究。在实验室中将果蝇饲养几代后,我们测量了翅膀大小,并比较了三大洲果蝇的地理模式(相对于纬度或温度)。南美洲雌性果蝇现在已经进化出显著的纬度体型梯度变化,其斜率与旧大陆和北美洲果蝇的相似。雌性果蝇的进化速率(哈代)是定量性状中测量到的最高速率之一。相比之下,南美洲或北美洲雄性果蝇的体型梯度变化是正向的,但不显著。在任何给定纬度,南美洲两性果蝇都相对较大;这在一定程度上反映了智利沿海相对凉爽的气候。有趣的是,在三大洲中,为雌性果蝇产生体型梯度变化的翅膀部分是不同的。因此,尽管总体翅膀大小的进化在地理尺度上是可预测的(至少对于雌性来说),但特定翅膀部分大小的进化显然并非如此。