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Adaptation to temperate climates.

William E Bradshaw1, Peter A Zani, Christina M Holzapfel

  • 1Center for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403-5289, USA. bradshaw@darkwing.uoregon.edu

Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution
|September 28, 2004
PubMed
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Mosquitoes show evolved differences in heat/cold tolerance and photoperiodic response. Climate change may drive faster evolution in photoperiodic response than thermal tolerance in temperate ectotherms.

Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Environmental Science

Background:

  • Seasonal changes at temperate latitudes require organisms to adapt to varying conditions.
  • Fitness depends on exploiting favorable seasons, mitigating unfavorable ones, and timely life-history transitions.
  • The mosquito Wyeomyia smithii serves as a model organism to study these adaptations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate evolved differences in thermal tolerance and photoperiodic response in Wyeomyia smithii populations across latitudes.
  • To determine how these evolved traits influence fitness under different thermal and photic conditions.
  • To assess the potential impact of climate change on the evolution of these traits.

Main Methods:

  • Exposed Wyeomyia smithii cohorts from different latitudes (30-50 degrees N) to manipulated southern and northern thermal years, controlling for photoperiod.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Exposed populations to a natural midlatitude thermal year with natural midlatitude day lengths.
  • Measured year-long cohort replacement rate (fitness, Ry) under these controlled conditions.

    • Main Results:

    • Populations exhibited evolved differences in heat and cold tolerance, with northern populations showing greater cold tolerance and southern populations greater heat tolerance.
    • Evolved photoperiodic responses significantly impacted fitness: southern populations failed to enter diapause timely (74% fitness decline), while northern populations entered a detrimental warm-season diapause (88% fitness decline).
    • Holding thermal conditions constant while varying photoperiod revealed crucial insights into evolved responses.

    Conclusions:

    • Reciprocal transplants in nature confound thermal and photic effects; this study disentangled these factors.
    • Global warming may drive more rapid evolution of photoperiodic response than thermal tolerance in northern temperate ectotherms.
    • Understanding these evolved responses is critical for predicting species' adaptation to climate change.