The impact of anaesthetic technique on survival and fertility in Drosophila

Abstract The consequences of ice and carbon dioxide anaesthetics on the survival and reproductive success of Drosophila simulans and Drosophila melanogaster were investigated after observations of high levels of mortality in D. simulans, possibly associated with brief chill coma. The association between brief chill coma and death is confirmed in female D. simulans but there is no mortality in male D. simulans or D. melanogaster of either sex. Mortality is unlikely to be associated with a strain specific cold intolerance because two geographically distinct populations of D. simulans were examined. In addition to the effect of ice anaesthesia, anaesthetizing newly‐eclosed male D. simulans with CO₂ causes a reduction in fertility, which is evident 9–13 days after anaesthesia. This finding is important given that CO₂ anaesthesia is a standard technique used in Drosophila and other insect cultures, and may have important consequences for studies of male fertility and sperm competition.