Adaptation to divergent larval diets in the medfly, Ceratitis capitata

Leftwich, Philip T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9500-6592, Nash, William J., Friend, Lucy A. and Chapman, Tracey (2017) Adaptation to divergent larval diets in the medfly, Ceratitis capitata. Evolution, 71 (2). 289–303. ISSN 0014-3820

Preview

PDF (Published manuscript) - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (353kB) | Preview

Abstract

Variation in diet can influence the timing of major life history events and can drive population diversification and ultimately speciation. Proximate responses of life histories to diet have been well studied. However, there are scant experimental data on how organisms adapt to divergent diets over the longer term. We focused on this omission by testing the responses of a global pest, the Mediterranean fruitfly, to divergent selection on larval diets of different nutritional profiles. Tests conducted before and after 30 generations of nutritional selection revealed a complex interplay between the effects of novel larval dietary conditions on both plastic and evolved responses. There were proximate-only responses to the larval diet in adult male courtship and the frequency of copulation. Males on higher calorie larval diets consistently engaged in more bouts of energetic courtship. In contrast, following selection, larval development time and egg to adult survival showed evidence of evolved divergence between diet regimes. Adult body size showed evidence for adaptation, with flies being significantly heavier when reared on their ‘own’ diet. The results show the multifaceted responses of individuals to dietary selection and are important in understanding the extreme generalism exhibited by the medfly.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2016 The Author(s). Evolution published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Society for the Study of Evolution. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	body size,development time,developmental survival,divergence,experimental evolution,sexual selection
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Organisms and the Environment Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Biosciences Teaching and Education Research
Related URLs:	http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/evo.13113
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	14 Nov 2016 12:00
Last Modified:	12 May 2023 00:23
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/61313
DOI:	10.1111/evo.13113

Downloads

Actions (login required)

View Item