Abstract
Genetic analysis by interspecific crosses of the tolerance of Drosophila sechellia to major aliphatic acids of its host plant
Highlights
The diversification of ecological niches by reduction of niche breadth is often considered as a consequence of interspecific competition and as a major cause for maintaining biodiversity in an ecosystem (Hutchinson, 1978; Tilman, 1982), there are exceptions to this general rule (Connell, 1980)
Because of the behavioral attraction of D sechellia adults to morinda and of the repulsion of D simulans, we found it possible to have the two species coexisting on two different resources, banana and morinda, in the same population room at 25°C
Contrary to previous observations (Farine et al, 1996), we found that hexanoic acid exhibited a strong toxicity similar to that observed for octanoic acid
Summary
The diversification of ecological niches by reduction of niche breadth is often considered as a consequence of interspecific competition and as a major cause for maintaining biodiversity in an ecosystem (Hutchinson, 1978; Tilman, 1982), there are exceptions to this general rule (Connell, 1980). The relative stability of tropical ecosystems, as compared to temperate ones, may explain why more numerous species are generally found in the tropics than in temperate biota (Pianka, 1974; Pielou, 1975); the Drosophilidae family follows this rule. Numerous cases of ecological specialization are known, especially among phytophagous species (Price, 1984; Harborne, 1989). Most investigated cases are restricted to species comparisons, without any possibility of genetic analysis. There are only a few biological situations amenable to genetic investigation, including Papillio species (Thompson et al, 1990), the fly Rhagoletis (Feder et al, 1990a, b) and Drosophila sechellia (R’Kha et al, 1991)
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