Experimental Tests of Developmental and Cross-Generational Effects of Temperature

9514205发育中的昆虫所经历的休伊条件通常会影响其成年后的大小和表现。例如，食物水平和拥挤对成虫的大小和繁殖有深远的影响。因此，考虑这些“发育效应”的重要性对于理解自然界中昆虫的生态是至关重要的。此外，这些发育影响的知识可以有效地用于设计优化昆虫大规模繁殖的方案，就像在生物控制项目中经常做的那样。本项目将探索发育温度对果蝇成虫的影响。众所周知，发育期间(幼虫和蛹阶段)经历的温度会影响成虫生物学的许多方面，但实际影响也可能取决于作为成虫经历的温度。这个项目使用了一个复杂的实验设计，它独立地操纵发育中和成年果蝇的温度，然后测试几个相互竞争的假设。成虫不仅受其自身发育过程中的温度影响，有时还受其父母所经历的温度的影响。该项目也将同样确定这种“跨代”效应对后代的重要性。该项目的结果将阐明昆虫学中的一个基本问题--即昆虫对其自身和其父母在早期发育阶段所经历的条件的敏感程度。此外，从这项研究中获得的信息将表明，用于大规模饲养昆虫的质量控制程序是否应该将温度作为动态变量进行研究。

9514205 Huey Conditions experienced by a developing insect often influence its size and performance as an adult. For example, food levels and crowding have profound effects on size and reproduction of adult insects. Consequently, a consideration of the importance of these "developmental effects" is crucial to understanding the ecology of insects in nature. Moreover, knowledge of these developmental effects can be used effectively in designing protocols for optimal mass-rearing of insects, as is often done in biocontrol programs. This project will explore the effect of developmental temperature on adult fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster). The temperature experienced during development (larval and pupal stages) is known to influence many aspects of an adult insect's biology, but the actual impact may depend as well on the temperatures experienced as an adult. This project uses a complex experimental design that independently manipulates temperatures of both developing and adult flies, and then tests several competing hypotheses. An adult insect is influenced not only by temperatures experienced during its own development, but sometimes also by temperatures experienced by its parents. This project will similarly determine the significance of such "cross-generational" effects on offspring. The results of this project will elucidate a basic issue in entomology - namely, to what extent is the performance of an insect sensitive to conditions experienced by itself at earlier developmental stages and by its parents. Moreover, information derived from this study will indicate whether quality control programs used in mass-rearing of insects should incorporate temperature as a dynamic variable for study.