The diapause decision as a cascade switch for adaptive developmental plasticity in body mass in a butterfly

Switch‐induced developmental plasticity, such as the diapause decision in insects, is a major form of adaptation to variable environments. As individuals that follow alternative developmental pathways will experience different selective environments the diapause decision may evolve to a cascade switch that induces additional adaptive developmental differences downstream of the diapause decision. Here, we show that individuals following alternative developmental pathways in a Swedish population of the butterfly, Pararge aegeria, display differential optimization of adult body mass as a likely response to predictable differences in thermal conditions during reproduction. In a more northern population where this type of selection is absent no similar difference in adult mass among pathways was found. We conclude that the diapause decision in the southern population appears to act as a cascade switch, coordinating development downstream of the diapause decision, to produce adult phenotypes adapted to the typical thermal conditions of their expected reproductive period.     

Viral twig necrosis of sweet cherry. Modes of transmission and spread of petunia asteroid mosaic virus (PeAMV)

Grafting symptomless scions, derived from petunia asteroid mosaic virus (PeAMV)-infected trees, to healthy rootstocks resulted in only 3.3% infection in the resulting trees. Up to 90% of seeds from infected sweet cherries contained high quantities of PeAMV, but the virus was not transmitted to the seedlings apparently because of low virus content in the embryo and loss of infectivity during seed maturation and storage. Replanting healthy cherry trees cv. Sam, grafted to different rootstocks, into contaminated soils resulted in new infections. Eight of 13 trees on rootstocks derived from Prunus avium (F 12/1 and cv. Sam on its own roots) were infected with PeAMV within a period of four years but only one of 16 trees on Weiroot-rootstocks (selections from Prunus cerasus) became infected. The detection of PeAMV in naturally contaminated soil samples by the bait plant procedure, using Nicotiana clevelandii, was superior to testing soil eluates by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immuno electron microscopy (IEM). Wild plants may contribute to virus propagation and maintenance of virus contamination of the soil as 25 of 310 samples from 712 herbaceous plants growing in the vicinity of infected trees contained PeAMV; the contaminated samples represented 12 species. The perpetuation of PeAMV by infected scion wood is probably of minor significance, and infection via the soil probably represents the most important means of spread of viral twig necrosis in northern Bavaria.     

Internal Potassium and Chloride Activities and the Effects of Acetylcholine on Identifiable <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aplysia</Emphasis> Neurones

It has been suggested that some inhibitory postsynaptic potentials in the abdominal ganglion cells of Aplysia may reflect activation of the sodium pump by acetylcholine. Measurement of electrolyte activity, however, shows that the effect probably arises from changes in membrane permeability to potassium.     

Colour similarity to rewarding model plants affects pollination in a food deceptive orchid, Orchis boryi

We studied the pollination of Orchis boryi at five different locations on the Greek mainland. Orchis boryi is food deceptive and obligatorily insect pollinated. Primary pollinators were Apis mellifera and Bombus spp., which foraged on rewarding plant species nearby and visited O. boryi in between. To analyse floral colour similarity among rewarding plants and O. boryi as perceived by bees, a model of bee colour vision was employed. For each food plant an index was calculated that described the probability of a bee foraging on it to subsequently choose an orchid flower. This choice probability correlated to colour distance according to the model of bee colour vision, indicating that bees chose the deceptive orchid more frequently if they foraged on more similarly coloured species. At different sites different plant species served as models. Bees foraging on food plants from which a high choice rate to the orchid was observed visited the orchid less often after approaching it than other bees, which is likely to reflect avoidance learning. In general, the pollination syndrome appears to be a generalized form of Batesian mimicry, in which similarity to rewarding plants determines reproductive success. As expected by negative density-dependent selection, individual fruit set and pollinia export rate correlated negatively with orchid density, but were unaffected by food plant density, orchid frequency, individual variation of labellum colour, labellum size, or mouth width of the flowers.     

The evolution of alternative morphs: density-dependent determination of larval colour dimorphism in a butterfly

Understanding the ultimate causes for the presence of polymorphisms within populations requires knowledge of how the expression of discrete morphs is regulated. In the present study, we explored the determination mechanism of a colour dimorphism in larvae of the butterfly Pararge xiphia (Satyrinae: Nymphalidae) with the ultimate aim of understanding its potential adaptive value. Last-instar larvae of P. xiphia develop into either a green or a brown morph, although all individuals are invariably green during the preceding three instars. A series of laboratory experiments reveal that morph development is strongly environmentally dependent and not the result of alternative alleles at one locus. Photoperiod, temperature, and in particular larval density, all influenced morph determination. The strong effect of a high larval density in inducing the brown morph parallels other known cases of density-dependent melanization in Lepidopteran larvae. Because melanization is often correlated with increased immune function, this type of determination mechanism is expected to be adaptive. However, the ecology and behaviour of P. xiphia larvae suggests that increased camouflage under high-density conditions may be an additional adaptive explanation. We conclude that the colour dimorphism of P. xiphia larvae is determined by a developmental threshold that is influenced both by heredity and by environmental conditions, and that selection for increased immune function and camouflage under high-density conditions may be responsible for maintaining the dimorphism.  © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2009, 98 , 256–266.