Abstract
Zaprionus indianus is a species of fly native to the Afrotropical biogeographic region, which around twenty years ago invaded the American continent. Several studies have shown that local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity of an invasive species in its native range could favour the colonization of new environments. Zaprionus indianus is a holometabolous generalist polyphagous species that breeds and feeds on the fruits of several different species, which constitute different environments. In this context, we performed a comparative analysis of the phenotypic plasticity of morphological and life history traits in response to seven different breeding environments (i.e. different breeding fruits). The comparison was of native (Africa) vs. invaded range (South America) wild-derived populations. The population-level phenotypic plasticity values related to heterogeneity in different breeding environments for most traits analysed were higher for one of the native range population. This differentiation was also recorded for the ranking across breeding environments of developmental time and wing length mean phenotypic values. In addition, mean phenotypic values pooled across fruit treatments were larger for individuals from the invaded range, which suggests local adaptation. Results define a scenario in which, although not for all the populations analysed, phenotypic plasticity contributes to the invasiveness and local adaptation in native range population of Z. indianus.
Highlights
There is evidence that biological invasions involving phylogenetically distant taxa are rapidly increasing (Ricciardi & Atkinson, 2004; van Kleunen et al, 2010; Blackburn et al, 2011; Pimentel, 2011; Seebens et al, 2017)
Wild-derived Z. indianus flies from native range populations in Africa developed significantly faster than flies derived from the invaded range in South America, with the mean developmental times of African and south American flies being 312 and 330.76 h, respectively (Table 1, significant Origin effect)
Mean values for all morphological traits were significantly larger for individuals derived from the invaded range than for those from the native range, with the exception of thorax length that had a p-value of 0.0511 for the effect of Origin (Table 1, S1)
Summary
There is evidence that biological invasions involving phylogenetically distant taxa are rapidly increasing (Ricciardi & Atkinson, 2004; van Kleunen et al, 2010; Blackburn et al, 2011; Pimentel, 2011; Seebens et al, 2017). A broader understanding of phenotypic plasticity does not limit it to being only a characteristic of single genotypes In this sensu lato conceptualization, any phenotypic change in a biological entity induced by the environment is legitimately considered as phenotypic plasticity and it includes the plastic responses of populations and species in their particular ecological contexts (see for example Pigliucci, 2001; Valladares et al, 2006; Gianoli & Vallarades, 2012; Forsman, 2015). The sensu lato consideration of phenotypic plasticity allows to evaluate this mechanism’s relevance in ecological and phylogenetic contexts (Miner et al, 2005; Richards et al, 2006) Since this framework is suitable for comparisons of the magnitude and composition of phenotypic plasticity among populations or species it is possible to determine its role in adaptation or invasiveness by means of comparative studies
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