Abstract
ABSTRACTPlastic responses to multiple environmental stressors in wet or dry seasonal populations of tropical Drosophila species have received less attention. We tested plastic effects of heat hardening, acclimation to drought or starvation, and changes in trehalose, proline and body lipids in Drosophila ananassae flies reared under wet or dry season-specific conditions. Wet season flies revealed significant increase in heat knockdown, starvation resistance and body lipids after heat hardening. However, accumulation of proline was observed only after desiccation acclimation of dry season flies while wet season flies elicited no proline but trehalose only. Therefore, drought-induced proline can be a marker metabolite for dry-season flies. Further, partial utilization of proline and trehalose under heat hardening reflects their possible thermoprotective effects. Heat hardening elicited cross-protection to starvation stress. Stressor-specific accumulation or utilization as well as rates of metabolic change for each energy metabolite were significantly higher in wet-season flies than dry-season flies. Energy metabolite changes due to inter-related stressors (heat versus desiccation or starvation) resulted in possible maintenance of energetic homeostasis in wet- or dry-season flies. Thus, low or high humidity-induced plastic changes in energy metabolites can provide cross-protection to seasonally varying climatic stressors.
Highlights
In ectothermic organisms living under seasonally varying stressful climatic conditions, maintenance of energetic homeostasis is a major challenge (Lee, 2010)
For all the three stress-related traits, we found highly significant differences (P
Heat hardening resulted in partial utilization of trehalose in wet season flies but both proline and trehalose in dry season flies
Summary
In ectothermic organisms living under seasonally varying stressful climatic conditions, maintenance of energetic homeostasis is a major challenge (Lee, 2010). Stressor-induced changes in the level of energy metabolites can limit survival of insects under harsh climatic conditions (Rosendale et al, 2017). In some ectothermic organisms from temperate regions, single or multiple bouts of coldor drought-induced plastic changes have shown reduction of certain energy metabolites (Overgaard et al, 2007; Kostal et al, 2011; Colinet et al, 2012; Teets et al, 2011, 2012). Changes in cuticular components are associated with altered levels of drought. Energetic consequences of humiditytriggered plastic changes to multiple stressors have received less attention in tropical insects
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