Conserved patterns of integrated developmental plasticity in a group of polyphenic tropical butterflies

BMC Evolutionary Biology

Research Article

Oskar Brattström¹  Paul M. Brakefield¹  Dave Osbaldeston¹  Kwaku Aduse-Poku²  Erik van Bergen³  Ullasa Kodandaramaiah⁴ 

[1] Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, CB2 3EJ, Cambridge, UK;Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, CB2 3EJ, Cambridge, UK;Present Address: Department of Biology, City College of New York, City University of New York, Convent Avenue at 138th Street, 10031, New York, NY, USA;Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, CB2 3EJ, Cambridge, UK;Present Address: Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Rua da Quinta Grande 6, P-2780, Oeiras, Portugal;Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, CB2 3EJ, Cambridge, UK;School of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram, CET campus, 695016, Trivandrum, India;

关键词: Mycalesine butterflies;    Developmental plasticity;    Seasonal polyphenism;    Reaction norm;    Life-history evolution;    Bicyclus anynana;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12862-017-0907-1

 received in 2016-10-25, accepted in 2017-02-08,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundDevelopmental plasticity is thought to have profound macro-evolutionary effects, for example, by increasing the probability of establishment in new environments and subsequent divergence into independently evolving lineages. In contrast to plasticity optimized for individual traits, phenotypic integration, which enables a concerted response of plastic traits to environmental variability, may affect the rate of local adaptation by constraining independent responses of traits to selection. Using a comparative framework, this study explores the evolution of reaction norms for a variety of life history and morphological traits across five related species of mycalesine butterflies from the Old World tropics.ResultsOur data indicate that an integrated response of a suite of key traits is shared amongst these species. Interestingly, the traits that make up the functional suite are all known to be regulated by ecdysteroid signalling in Bicyclus anynana, one of the species included in this study, suggesting the same underlying hormonal regulator may be conserved within this group of polyphenic butterflies. We also detect developmental thresholds for the expression of alternative morphs.ConclusionsThe phenotypic plasticity of a broad suite of morphological and life history traits is integrated and shared among species from three geographically independent lineages of mycalesine butterflies, despite considerable periods of independent evolution and exposure to disparate environments. At the same time, we have detected examples of evolutionary change where independent traits show different patterns of reaction norms. We argue that the expression of more robust phenotypes may occur by shifting developmental thresholds beyond the boundaries of the typical environmental variation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017