Abstract
Summary Previous studies of laboratory and natural populations suggest that Drosophila simulans is much more restricted in its tolerance to different temperatures than its sibling species Drosophila melanogaster. We have studied competition between these two species in population cages at 20 °C, the optimal temperature for D. simulans, and at 25 °C which seems to be more favourable to D. melanogaster. At 25 °C D. melanogaster eliminated D. simulans, but at 20 °C, the reverse occured. The temperature effect, on each of the three fitness components (fertility, larval viability and developmental time) measured in both species, in the experimental conditions of the cages, is in agreement with the observed outcome of interspecific competition.
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