Abstract
Bembidion (Talanes) aspericolle (Germar, 1829) is a Western Palearctic species which lives on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas and saline inland habitats from Central Europe to Central Asia. Anthropogenic impact is one of the most important environmental factors affecting the morphological variability of ground beetles. The objective of our research is assessment of the morphological variability of this species in three ecosystems differing by intensity of anthropogenic impact. 13 linear characteristics, one angular characteristic, density of pores on the prothorax and elytra, contrast of spots on the beetles’ elytra were measured, and 6 morphometric indices were calculated. The mean value of body length in females is more than in males in the studied populations. In the ecosystem with high anthropogenic pressure, female body length is shorter by 3.7% and elytra length is shorter by 6.0% than in females in the ecosystem with low anthropogenic impact. Differences between populations in the body length of males are not significant. In the ecosystem with high anthropogenic transformation, sexual dimorphism is observed only on head and prothorax width. The ratio of maximum width of elytra to maximum prothorax width decreases significantly with increasing anthropogenic load. The impact of anthropogenic factors on the ecosystem produces significant changes in elytra length and head width of B. aspericolle and in four of the six morphometric indices. It is reasonable to use these morphometric characteristics of B. aspericolle adults in bioindication. The complex of anthropogenic factors does not have a significant impact on the value of anterior and posterior angles of prothorax, density of prothorax and elytra puncturing and contrast of the light spots at the top of the elytra. The sex of the specimen influences all linear characteristics. The absence of significant differences in morphometric indices between males and females shows that the body proportions of the beetles remain unchanged and only linear dimensions vary. Research on the morphological variability of B. aspericolle is important for understanding microevolutionary processes in populations of beetles under anthropogenically induced changes in the environment.
Highlights
Selye (1976) defined stress as a set of reactions of an organism which are caused by any strong, super-strong and extreme effects and are accompanied by restructuring of the organism adaptive systems
Earlier we studied the morphological variability of two species of the Bembidion genus which are widespread in most riparian ecosystems of Eurasia: B. varium (Olivier, 1795) and B. articulatum (Panzer, 1796) (Slin'ko et al, 2008; Brygadyrenko & Slynko, 2015)
Sexual dimorphism of body length is most pronounced in the ecosystems with low and medium anthropogenic impact, where females are larger than males by 7.16% and 7.03% respectively
Summary
Selye (1976) defined stress as a set of reactions of an organism which are caused by any strong, super-strong and extreme effects and are accompanied by restructuring of the organism adaptive systems. The work of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical system provides formation of stress reactions in vertebrates (Eremina & Gruntenko, 2017). The absence of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical system in insects was taken as proof of the absence of a stress reaction characteristic of warm-blooded animals. The presence of stress reactions in insects, in which various hormones take part, was later proved (Rauschenbach et al, 2003). Invertebrate animals are convenient objects for studying the basic mechanisms of stress reactions (Mirth et al, 2014; Zakharenko et al, 2014). There are many publications on the mechanisms of stress reactions at the larval stage (state of diapause, delay of metamorphosis, mutations) (Sukhanova et al, 1997) and imago stage (Rauschenbach et al, 2000; Hanna et al, 2015)
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