Brakefield Paul M, Pijpe Jeroen, Zwaan Bas J
Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
J Biosci. 2007 Apr;32(3):465-75. doi: 10.1007/s12038-007-0046-8.
Plasticity is a crucial component of the life cycle of invertebrates that live as active adults throughout wet and dry seasons in the tropics. Such plasticity is seen in the numerous species of Bicyclus butterflies in Africa which exhibit seasonal polyphenism with sequential generations of adults with one or other of two alternative phenotypes. These differ not only in wing pattern but in many other traits. This divergence across a broad complex of traits is associated with survival and reproduction either in a wet season that is favourable in terms of resources, or mainly in a dry season that is more stressful. This phenomenon has led us to examine the bases of the developmental plasticity in a model species, B.anynana, and also the evolution of key adult life history traits, including starvation resistance and longevity. We now understand something about the processes that generate variation in the phenotype,and also about the ecological context of responses to environmental stress. The responses clearly involve a mix of developmental plasticity as cued by different environments in pre-adult development,and the acclimation of life history traits in adults to their prevailing environment.
可塑性是热带地区在整个干湿季节都以活跃成虫形式生活的无脊椎动物生命周期的一个关键组成部分。在非洲的众多双环蝶物种中可以看到这种可塑性，它们表现出季节性多型现象，连续几代成虫具有两种交替表型中的一种或另一种。这些表型不仅在翅型上不同，在许多其他特征上也不同。这种在广泛的一系列特征上的差异与在资源有利的雨季或主要在压力更大的旱季的生存和繁殖有关。这一现象促使我们研究模式物种——香蕉弄蝶的发育可塑性基础，以及关键成虫生活史特征的进化，包括抗饥饿能力和寿命。我们现在对产生表型变异的过程有所了解，也对响应环境压力的生态背景有所了解。这些反应显然涉及成虫前期发育中不同环境所引发的发育可塑性，以及成虫生活史特征对其当前环境的适应。
