Evolutionary Biology Group, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9516, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
Am Nat. 2013 Feb;181(2):E28-42. doi: 10.1086/668818. Epub 2013 Jan 14.
A predictive adaptive response (PAR) is a type of developmental plasticity where the response to an environmental cue is not immediately advantageous but instead is later in life. The PAR is a way for organisms to maximize fitness in varying environments. Insects living in seasonal environments are valuable model systems for testing the existence and form of PAR. Previous manipulations of the larval and the adult environments of the butterfly Bicyclus anynana have shown that individuals that were food restricted during the larval stage coped better with forced flight during the adult stage compared to those with optimal conditions in the larval stage. Here, we describe a state-dependent energy allocation model, which we use to test whether such a response to food restriction could be adaptive in nature where this butterfly exhibits seasonal cycles. The results from the model confirm the responses obtained in our previous experimental work and show how such an outcome was facilitated by resource allocation patterns to the thorax during the pupal stage. We conclude that for B. anynana, early-stage cues can direct development toward a better adapted phenotype later in life and, therefore, that a PAR has evolved in this species.
预测适应性反应 (PAR) 是一种发育可塑性，其中对环境线索的反应不是立即有利，而是在以后的生活中。PAR 是生物体在不同环境中最大限度地提高适应性的一种方式。生活在季节性环境中的昆虫是测试 PAR 存在和形式的有价值的模型系统。以前对蝴蝶 Bicyclus anynana 的幼虫和成虫环境的操纵表明，与幼虫期处于最佳条件的个体相比，在幼虫期受到食物限制的个体在成虫期被迫飞行时能够更好地应对。在这里，我们描述了一种状态依赖的能量分配模型，我们使用该模型来测试这种对食物限制的反应是否在这种蝴蝶表现出季节性周期的自然环境中具有适应性。模型的结果证实了我们之前实验工作中获得的结果，并展示了在蛹期向胸部分配资源的模式如何促成这种结果。我们得出的结论是，对于 B. anynana，早期阶段的线索可以引导发育朝着以后更适应的表型方向发展，因此，这种物种已经进化出了 PAR。
