Baeza Icaza Amalia, Poblete Ahumada Gabriela, Rezende Enrico L, Peralta-Maraver Ignacio
Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Departamento de Ecología, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain.
J Anim Ecol. 2025 May;94(5):896-907. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.70018. Epub 2025 Mar 26.
Thermal acclimation is presumed to affect heat tolerance, though it is unclear how this should impact populations under realistic natural conditions. In this study, we quantified how thermal acclimation affects heat tolerance landscapes in Drosophila and, as a consequence, their predicted mortality in the field based on modelling with a dynamic thermal tolerance algorithm. We measured the thermal tolerance of four Drosophila species (D. repleta, D. hydei, D. simulans and D. virilis) acclimated to five constant temperatures covering a range from 18 to 30°C. We then combined this information with field temperatures to construct dynamic tolerance landscapes for these species and examine how survival varies over the course of a year. Our analyses reveal the effect of acclimation on an ecologically relevant scale, specifically through the study of cumulative mortality under natural thermal regimes. We explore how different species respond to thermal challenges during acclimation, generally showing an increase in critical temperature (CT) while either reducing or maintaining constant thermal sensitivity (z). Furthermore, we show that while acclimation presents a relatively modest improvement in thermal tolerance during short ramping laboratory trials, this response becomes stronger when tolerance estimates are translated into ecologically relevant timescales, such as annual survival. Our results indicate that acclimation to warm conditions can substantially increase Drosophila thermal tolerance, contradicting the idea that thermal acclimation in ectotherms has only a minor effect. Our work applies novel approaches to studying thermal tolerance and aims to highlight the role of acclimation in ameliorating the impact of global warming.
热适应被认为会影响耐热性，不过尚不清楚在现实自然条件下这会如何影响种群。在本研究中，我们量化了热适应如何影响果蝇的耐热性景观，并因此基于动态耐热性算法建模来预测它们在野外的死亡率。我们测量了四种果蝇（拟果蝇、海德氏果蝇、拟暗果蝇和粗壮果蝇）在适应18至30°C范围内五个恒定温度后的耐热性。然后，我们将这些信息与野外温度相结合，构建这些物种的动态耐受性景观，并研究一年中生存率如何变化。我们的分析揭示了适应在生态相关尺度上的影响，特别是通过研究自然热环境下的累积死亡率。我们探究了不同物种在适应过程中如何应对热挑战，通常表现为临界温度（CT）升高，同时热敏感性（z）降低或保持不变。此外，我们表明，虽然在短时间升温的实验室试验中，适应在耐热性方面带来的提升相对较小，但当将耐受性估计转化为生态相关的时间尺度，如年度生存率时，这种反应会变得更强。我们的结果表明，适应温暖条件可大幅提高果蝇的耐热性，这与变温动物的热适应仅具有微小影响这一观点相矛盾。我们的工作应用了新方法来研究耐热性，旨在突出适应在减轻全球变暖影响方面的作用。
