THE RESPONSES OF DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER TO ARTIFICIAL SELECTION ON BODY WEIGHT AND ITS PHENOTYPIC PLASTICITY IN TWO LARVAL FOOD ENVIRONMENTS

To investigate the potential response to natural selection of reaction norms for age and size at maturity, fresh body weight at eclosion was mass selected under rich and poor larval food conditions in Drosophila melanogaster. The sensitivity of dry weight at eclosion to the difference between rich and poor larval food was selected using differences in sensitivities among families. For both experiments, the correlated response to selection of age at eclosion was examined. The flies were derived from wild populations and had been mass cultured in the lab for more than six months before the experiments started. These flies responded to selection on body weight upwards and downwards on both rich and poor larval food. Selection on increased or decreased sensitivity of body weight was also successful in at least one direction. Sensitivity was reduced by selection upwards in a poor environment and downwards in a rich environment.