Paper wasps are darker at high elevation
Paper wasps are darker at high elevation
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jtherbio.2020.102535
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发表时间：
2020-04-01
影响因子：
2.7
通讯作者：
Sarmiento, Carlos E.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
de Souza, Andre R.;Mayorquin, Angie Z.;Sarmiento, Carlos E.
高山是严酷的环境，其中较冷的温度和较高水平的UV-B辐射是常见的。这些非生物条件强烈地影响动物的生物学，通常限制它们的生存和繁殖。因此，预计将进化出适应生活在这种生境中的适应性。动物的身体颜色被认为是对环境的适应。外皮黑化可改善热量吸收并提供光保护。因此，在高海拔地区，外温动物预计会更暗（黑化良好）。我们测试这一预测在纸黄蜂Agelaia pallipes（膜翅目：胡蜂科），一个物种分布在哥伦比亚的海拔梯度安第斯山脉。我们使用Malaise诱捕器，沿着海拔2，600 - 3，380米的九个海拔沿着共采集了146只黄蜂。采用标准数码摄影技术测量干保存标本不同部位的亮度和颜色图案。有显着的变化，在身体亮度（黑暗和光明），颜色图案（补丁，平滑，均匀）和表面纹理（光泽和哑光），但种类和程度的变化取决于身体部位检查。海拔较高的黄蜂胸部较黑，证实了我们的预测。此外，在高海拔地区，黄蜂的频率与哑光，而不是一个有光泽的脸大大增加。总体而言，我们的研究结果支持热黑化假说，并建议种内颜色变化可能是适应环境的纸黄蜂。
High mountains are harsh environments in which colder temperatures and higher levels of UV-B radiation are common. These abiotic conditions strongly affect animals' biology, often constraining their survival and reproduction. As a result, adaptations to live in such habitats are expected to evolve. Body color is thought to be adaptive to the environment that animals experience. Tegument melanization improves heat gain and provides photoprotection. Therefore, at high elevation, ectotherms are expected to be darker (well-melanized). We test this prediction in the paper wasp Agelaia pallipes (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), a species distributed across an elevational gradient in the Colombian Andes. We used Malaise traps and sampled a total of 146 wasps along nine elevations, ranging from 2,600-3,380 m above sea level. Standard digital photography was used to measure the body luminance and colour patterning in different body parts of dry-preserved specimens. There was striking variation in body luminance (darker and lighter), color patterning (patched, smoothed, homogeneous) and surface texture (shiny and matte), but the kind and degree of variation depended on the body part examined. Wasps from higher elevations had darker thoraces, confirming our prediction. Besides, at high elevation, the frequency of wasps with a matte rather than a shiny face strongly increased. Overall, our findings support the thermal melanism hypothesis and suggest that intraspecific color variation might be an adaptation to the environment of paper wasps.