Experimental Tests of Developmental and Cross-Generational Effects of Temperature

发育中的昆虫所经历的环境常常影响其成年后的体型和表现。例如，食物水平和拥挤程度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昆虫的生态学是至关重要的。此外，这些发育影响的知识可以有效地用于设计最佳大规模饲养昆虫的方案，就像在生物防治计划中经常做的那样。本项目将探讨发育温度对成年果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）的影响。众所周知，在发育期间（幼虫和蛹阶段）所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成虫所经历的温度。这个项目使用了一个复杂的实验设计，独立地操纵发育和成年果蝇的温度，然后测试几个相互竞争的假设。成虫不仅受自身发育过程中所经历的温度的影响，有时也受其亲本所经历的温度的影响。这个项目同样将确定这种“跨代”影响对后代的重要性。这个项目的结果将阐明昆虫学的一个基本问题- -即昆虫对其自身在早期发育阶段及其亲本所经历的条件的敏感程度有多大。此外，从本研究中获得的信息将提示是否应该将温度作为一个动态变量来研究昆虫大规模饲养的质量控制程序。

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.