Lailvaux Simon P, Breuker Casper J, Van Damme Raoul
Physiol Biochem Zool. 2017 Jan/Feb;90(1):54-62. doi: 10.1086/689995. Epub 2016 Nov 21.
Most organisms are limited in the amount and type of resources they are able to extract from the environment. The juvenile environment is particularly important in this regard, as conditions over ontogeny can influence the adult phenotype. Whole-organism performance traits, such as locomotion, are susceptible to such environmental effects, yet the specific biotic and abiotic factors driving performance plasticity have received little attention. We tested whether speckled wood Pararge aegeria L. butterflies reared under conditions of water stress exhibited poorer flight morphology and performance than control individuals. Despite large differences in mortality between treatments, we found no effects of water stress treatment on takeoff performance and only minor treatment effects on flight morphology. However, butterflies reared on water-stressed diets exhibited both significantly greater mortality and longer development times than did control individuals. Pararge aegeria larvae may compensate for this stress by prolonging development, resulting in similar realized performance capacities at least in takeoff performance in surviving adult butterflies; other measures of flight performance remain to be considered. Alternatively, the adult phenotype may be insulated from environmental effects at the larval stage in these insects.
大多数生物体从环境中获取资源的数量和类型是有限的。在这方面，幼年环境尤为重要，因为个体发育过程中的条件会影响成体的表型。全生物体的性能特征，如运动能力，容易受到此类环境影响，然而，驱动性能可塑性的具体生物和非生物因素却很少受到关注。我们测试了在水分胁迫条件下饲养的斑点木蝴蝶（Pararge aegeria L.）是否比对照个体表现出更差的飞行形态和性能。尽管不同处理之间的死亡率存在很大差异，但我们发现水分胁迫处理对起飞性能没有影响，对飞行形态只有轻微的处理效应。然而，以水分胁迫饮食饲养的蝴蝶比对照个体表现出显著更高的死亡率和更长的发育时间。斑点木蝴蝶幼虫可能通过延长发育来补偿这种胁迫，从而至少在存活的成年蝴蝶的起飞性能方面导致类似的实际性能能力；飞行性能的其他指标仍有待考虑。或者，在这些昆虫中，成体表型可能在幼虫阶段就免受环境影响。
