Department of Entomology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
Biol Open. 2022 Oct 15;11(10). doi: 10.1242/bio.059610. Epub 2022 Oct 26.
Many insects inhabiting temperate climates are faced with changing environmental conditions throughout the year. Depending on the species, these environmental fluctuations can be experienced within a single generation or across multiple generations. Strategies for dealing with these seasonal changes vary across populations. Drosophila mojavensis is a cactophilic Drosophila species endemic to the Sonoran Desert. The Sonoran Desert regularly reaches temperatures of 50°C in the summer months. As individuals of this population are rare to collect in the summer months, we simulated the cycling temperatures experienced by D. mojavensis in the Sonoran Desert from April to July (four generations) in a temperature- and light-controlled chamber, to understand the physiological and life history changes that allow this population to withstand these conditions. In contrast to our hypothesis of a summer aestivation, we found that D. mojavensis continue to reproduce during the summer months, albeit with lower viability, but the adult survivorship of the population is highly reduced during this period. As expected, stress resistance increased during the summer months in both the adult and the larval stages. This study examines several strategies for withstanding the Sonoran Desert summer conditions which may be informative in the study of other desert endemic species.
许多栖息在温带气候的昆虫在一年中都会面临环境条件的变化。具体取决于物种，这些环境波动可能在一个世代内或多个世代内发生。不同种群应对这些季节性变化的策略也有所不同。莫哈韦沙漠果蝇（Drosophila mojavensis）是一种专性栖息于仙人掌上的果蝇，仅分布于索诺兰沙漠。索诺兰沙漠夏季的温度经常会达到 50°C。由于该种群在夏季很难采集到个体，因此我们在温度和光照可控的室内环境中模拟了莫哈韦沙漠果蝇从四月到七月（四个世代）所经历的循环温度，以了解使该种群能够适应这些条件的生理和生活史变化。与我们关于夏季休眠的假设相反，我们发现莫哈韦沙漠果蝇在夏季仍继续繁殖，尽管存活率较低，但在这段时间内种群的成虫存活率却大大降低。正如预期的那样，在夏季，成虫和幼虫阶段的抗应激能力都有所增加。本研究考察了几种应对索诺兰沙漠夏季条件的策略，这些策略可能对研究其他沙漠特有物种具有启示意义。
