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1.
Parasite resistance mechanisms can be costly to maintain. We would therefore predict that organisms should invest in resistance only when it is likely to be required. Insects that show density-dependent phase polyphenism, developing different phenotypes at high and low population densities, have the opportunity to match their levels of investment in resistance with the likelihood of exposure to pathogens. As high population densities often precipitate disease epidemics, the high-density form should be selected to invest relatively more in resistance. We tested this prediction in larvae of the noctuid Spodoptera exempta. Larvae reared at a high density were found to be considerably more resistant to a nuclear polyhedrosis virus than those reared in isolation. A conspicuous feature of the high-density phase of S. exempta and other phase-polyphenic Lepidoptera is cuticular melanization. As melanization is controlled by the phenoloxidase enzyme system, which is also involved in the immune response, this suggests a possible mechanism for increased resistance at high population densities. We demonstrated that melanized S. exempta larvae were more resistant than non-melanized forms, independent of rearing density. We also found that haemolymph phenoloxidase activity was correlated with cuticular melanization, providing further evidence for a link between melanization and immunity. These results suggest that pathogen resistance in S. exempta is phenotypically plastic, and that the melanized cuticles characteristic of the high-density form may be indicative of a more active immune system.  相似文献   

2.
《Journal of Asia》2020,23(2):498-503
Growth-blocking peptide (GBP) is a 25 amino acid insect cytokine found in lepidopteran insects that has diverse biological activities such as larval growth regulation, paralysis induction, cell proliferation and stimulation of immune cells. Density-dependent phase polyphenism is a phenomenon of phenotypic plasticity in which the expression of a variety of traits can be affected by local population density. In the present study, the armyworm Mythimna separata larvae with four rearing densities (1 larva/vial, 2 larvae/vial, 4 larvae/vial and 6 larvae/vial) were tested for cuticular melanization and body weight throughout the third-fifth instar, and the functional role of GBP in regulating the changes was investigated. The results indicated that when reared at high densities, the larvae exhibited less body weight and more degree of cuticular melanization than larvae reared at low densities. The gene expression of GBP in armyworm larvae showed an initial rise and then decline trend with increased rearing densities in the third to fifth instar. Compared with control, more degree of cuticular melanization was observed in GBP-injected larvae (500 ng/larva in volume 50 μL) than that in Ringer’s solution-injected counterparts. Furthermore, the gene expression level of dopa decarboxylase and prophenoloxidase increased significantly in GBP-injected fifth instar larvae from 6 h to 12 h after injection, suggesting the role of GBP in modulating density-dependent phase trait of armyworm cuticular melanization.  相似文献   

3.
Cuticular colour in the mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitor) is a quantitative trait, varying from tan to black. Population level variation in cuticular colour has been linked to pathogen resistance in this species and in several other insects: darker individuals are more resistant to pathogens. Given that cuticular colour has a heritable component, we have taken an experimental evolution approach: we selected 10 lines for black and 10 lines for tan adult cuticular phenotypes over at least six generations and measured the correlated responses to selection in a range of immune effector systems. Our results show that two immune parameters related to resistance (haemocyte density and pre-immune challenge activity of phenoloxidase (PO)) were significantly higher in selection lines of black beetles compared to tan lines. This may help to explain increased resistance to pathogens in darker individuals. Cuticular colour is dependent upon melanin production, which requires the enzyme PO that is present in its inactive form inside haemocytes. Thus, the observed correlated response to selection upon cuticular colour and immune variables probably results from these traits' shared dependence on melanin production.  相似文献   

4.
This study examines phenotypic plasticity in relation to rearing density in larvae of the moth, Mamestra brassicae. Larval phase, growth rate, weight at moulting and susceptibility to disease were quantified when reared at five densities. Larvae develop more quickly, but attain a smaller size and are more susceptible to disease, when reared at high than at intermediate densities. They also exhibit a higher degree of melanisation than larvae reared at intermediate densities, or singly. A review of the literature suggests that a switch to a rapidly developing dark phase at high densities is a widespread phenomenon within the Lepidoptera. Rapid development at the expense of attaining a large size, and increased melanisation, are interpreted as adaptive responses to reach pupation before food supplies are depleted, as is likely when larval density is high. High susceptibility to viral infection at high density may be a result of physiological stress associated with rapid development, or due to a shift in allocation of resources from resistance to development: larvae that developed quickly were more susceptible to infection. Larvae reared singly appeared to be less fit than larvae reared at intermediate densities: they exhibited many of the characteristics of larvae reared at high density, particularly low weight, a right-hand skew in their weight frequency distribution, and high susceptibility to disease. I hypothesise that expression of resistance may be phenotypically plastic with regard to environment. Contact with other larvae may, up to a point, stimulate both growth and resistance to infection, for the risk of infection will increase with the density of conspecifics.  相似文献   

5.
Abstract Adult mealworm beetles, Tenebrio molitor L. (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae), show density dependent polyphenism in adult cuticular colour that is correlated with prophylactic immunity ( Barnes & Siva-Jothy, 2000 ). The degree of cuticular colour is important in understanding the biology of a number of insect-related phenomena (e.g. industrial melanism, thermoregulation). In this paper, the extent of variation in cuticular colour in a large outbred population is documented; the rate of darkening under three different rearing protocols including experimental selection for cuticular colour is examined; and the time taken for cuticular colouring to be completed is determined. The results show that cuticular colouring after eclosion is time-constrained in T. molitor , regardless of whether beetles are reared in large outbred cultures, inbred cultures, or cultures subjected to selection for darkness or lightness. Blacker beetles always darkened faster. The potential reasons for the constraint and the potential costs of rapid darkening are discussed.  相似文献   

6.
Defence from parasites and pathogens involves a cost. Thus, it is expected that organisms use this only at high population densities, where the risk of pathogen transmission may be high, as proposed by the "density-dependent prophylaxis" (DDP) hypothesis. These predictions have been tested in a wide range of insects, both in comparative and experimental studies. We think it pertinent to consider a continuum between solitarious and gregarious living insects, wherein: (1) solitarious insects are those that are constitutively solitary and do not express any phenotypic plasticity, (2) the middle of the continuum is represented by insects that are subject to fluctuations in local density and show a range of facultative and plastic changes; and (3) constitutively gregarious forms live gregariously and show the gregarious phenotype even in the absence of crowding stimuli. We aimed to chart some of the intermediary continuum with an insect that presents solitarious aspects, but that is subject to fluctuations in density. Thus, Anticarsia gemmatalis (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) larvae reared at higher densities showed changes in coloration, a greater degree of encapsulation, had higher hemocyte densities and were more resistant to Baculovirus anticarsia, but not to Bacillus thuringiensis. Meanwhile, with increased rearing density there was reduced capsule melanization. Hemocyte density was the only variable that did not vary according to larval phenotype. The observed responses were not a continuous function of larval density, but an all-or-nothing response to the presence of a conspecific. As A. gemmatalis is not known for gregarious living, yet shows these density-dependent changes, it thus seems that this plastic phenotypic adjustment may be a broader phenomenon than previously thought.  相似文献   

7.
Central to the conceptual basis of ecological immunity is the notion that immune effector systems are costly to produce, run, and/or maintain. Using the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor, as a model we investigated two aspects of the costs of innate immunity. We conducted an experiment designed to identify the cost of an induced immune response, and the cost of constitutive investment in immunity, as well as potential interactions. The immune traits under consideration were the encapsulation response and prophylactic cuticular melanization, which are mechanistically linked by the melanin-producing phenoloxidase cascade. If immunity is costly, we predicted reduced longevity and/or fecundity as a consequence of investment in either immune trait. We found a measurable longevity cost associated with producing an inducible immune response (encapsulation). In contrast to other studies, this cost was expressed under ad libitum feeding conditions. We found no measurable costs for constitutive investment in immunity (prophylactic investment in cuticular colour).  相似文献   

8.
Theory suggests that habitat structure and population density profoundly influence the phenotypic development of animals. Here, we predicted that reduced rearing density and increased structural complexity promote food search ability, anti-predator response and the ability to forage on novel prey, all behavioural skills important for surviving in the wild. Brown trout were reared at three densities (conventional hatchery density, a fourth of conventional hatchery density and natural density) in tanks with or without structure. Treatment effects on behaviour were studied on trout fry and parr, whereupon 20 trout from each of the six treatment groups were released in an enclosed natural stream and recaptured after 36 days. Fry reared at natural density were faster to find prey in a maze. Moreover, parr reared at natural density were faster to eat novel prey, and showed more efficient anti-predator behaviour than fish reared at higher densities. Furthermore, parr reared at reduced densities were twice as likely to survive in the stream as trout reared at high density. In contrast, we found no clear treatment effects of structure. These novel results suggest that reduced rearing densities can facilitate the development of behavioural life skills in captive animals, thereby increasing their contribution to natural production.  相似文献   

9.
Reilly JR  Hajek AE 《Oecologia》2008,154(4):691-701
The processes controlling disease resistance can strongly influence the population dynamics of insect outbreaks. Evidence that disease resistance is density-dependent is accumulating, but the exact form of this relationship is highly variable from species to species. It has been hypothesized that insects experiencing high population densities might allocate more energy to disease resistance than those at lower densities, because they are more likely to encounter density-dependent pathogens. In contrast, the increased stress of high-density conditions might leave insects more vulnerable to disease. Both scenarios have been reported for various outbreak Lepidoptera in the literature. We tested the relationship between larval density and disease resistance with the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) and one of its most important density-dependent mortality factors, the nucleopolyhedrovirus (NPV) LdMNPV, in a series of bioassays. Larvae were reared in groups at different densities, fed the virus individually, and then reared individually to evaluate response to infection. In this system, resistance to the virus decreased with increasing larval density. Similarly, time to death was faster at high densities than at lower densities. Implications of density–resistance relationships for insect–pathogen population dynamics were explored in a mathematical model. In general, an inverse relationship between rearing density and disease resistance has a stabilizing effect on population dynamics.  相似文献   

10.
幼虫密度对草地螟生长发育及繁殖的影响   总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1  
孔海龙  罗礼智  江幸福  张蕾  胡毅 《昆虫学报》2011,54(12):1384-1390
为了明确幼虫密度对草地螟Loxostege sticticalis种群增长的影响, 对室内条件下(温度22±1℃, RH 70%±5%, 光周期16L∶ 8D)不同幼虫密度[1, 10, 20, 30和40头/瓶(650 mL)]饲养的草地螟生长发育及繁殖进行了研究。结果表明: 幼虫密度对草地螟幼虫体色、 发育历期和存活率, 以及蛹重和成虫生殖等有显著影响。随着幼虫密度的增加, 幼虫体色黑化程度呈增强趋势, 幼虫密度大于10头/瓶时的体色黑化值均显著大于幼虫密度为1头/瓶时的体色黑化值(P<0.05)。20头/瓶的幼虫和蛹历期最短, 且随幼虫密度的增加而显著延长(P<0.05)。幼虫存活率以10头/瓶最高, 其他幼虫密度的幼虫存活率显著较低(P<0.05)。蛹重以1头/瓶的最重, 并随幼虫密度增加而显著下降(P<0.05)。成虫产卵量和交配率分别以1和20头/瓶的幼虫密度最高, 幼虫密度升高则产卵量、 交配率逐渐降低。成虫产卵历期随着幼虫密度的增加逐渐缩短。雌、 雄蛾寿命分别以10和20头/瓶幼虫密度时最长, 幼虫密度过高时雌雄蛾寿命又显著缩短(P<0.05)。生命表分析表明, 幼虫密度对草地螟种群增长指数有显著影响, 以10头/瓶幼虫密度的种群增长指数最高, 幼虫密度过高或过低时种群增长指数下降。据此认为, 幼虫密度是影响草地螟种群增长的重要因子之一。  相似文献   

11.
【目的】探究饲养温度对黄粉虫Tenebrio molitor幼虫生长发育和体液免疫防御的影响。【方法】测定了不同温度(18, 22, 26和30℃)下饲养的黄粉虫幼虫的发育历期、蛹重、化蛹率;采用抑制区分析法测定了不同温度下饲养的免疫(用生理盐水将大肠杆菌Escherichia coli配制成1×104个菌体/μL悬浮液,用微量注射器将其注入虫体腹部的背面,每头幼虫注射1 μL)和非免疫(注射生理盐水)黄粉虫幼虫血淋巴的抑菌和溶菌酶活性,通过分光光度法测定了其酚氧化酶活性。【结果】结果显示,黄粉虫幼虫发育历期随饲养温度的上升而明显缩短(P<0.0001),而不同温度下蛹重(P=0.067)与化蛹率(P=0.869)差异不显著。免疫组黄粉虫幼虫血淋巴的抑菌、酚氧化酶和溶菌酶活性随饲养温度上升而降低:抑菌和酚氧化酶活性随温度变化差异极显著(P<0.0001),溶菌酶活性差异显著(P=0.013)。【结论】本研究结果表明,温度对黄粉虫的生长发育和免疫防御具有较大的影响,低温下黄粉虫幼虫的发育历期延长,但其体液免疫防御能力明显增强。  相似文献   

12.
The evolution of perfect adaptive phenotypic plasticity of a given trait may be influenced by, among other things, phenotypic costs associated with the expression of a given trait value, relative to alternative trait values. One potential cause of such phenotypic costs is the allocation of limited resources to multiple traits. When multiple traits rely on the same resource, trait values for one adaptively plastic trait might be unavoidably associated with maladaptive trait values for other traits. I address this problem in three traits of Pieris rapae L. (the small cabbage white butterfly) that all rely on the pigment melanin and are adaptively plastic, but have very different functions: wing pattern, immune defense, and pupal color. Cool, short-day rearing conditions simultaneously increased total wing melanization and decreased a melanin-based immune response in females, consistent with predictions. However, cool, short days also reduced the melanin-based immune response in males, despite little effect on male wing melanization. Furthermore, contrary to predictions, these patterns were not altered by differences in dietary resources. Finally, dark-colored rearing backgrounds during pupation substantially increased pupal melanization in both sexes, but was not associated with differences in wing melanization. These results offer only mixed support for the hypothesis of melanin-based trade offs as a source of phenotypic costs to adaptive plasticity in these traits. However, patterns of sexual dimorphism for these traits suggest trade offs might be at work at another level: relative to males, females have consistently more heavily melanized wings but less heavily melanized pupae and immune responses. The reduced immune response under cool, short-day conditions may also have implications for the evolutionary ecology of these butterflies.  相似文献   

13.
Temperature and crowding are key environmental factors mediating the transmission and epizooty of infectious disease in ectotherm animals. The host physiology may be altered in a temperature‐dependent manner and thus affects the pathogen development and course of diseases within an individual and host population, or the transmission rates (or infectivity) of pathogens shift linearly with the host population density. To our understanding, the knowledge of interactive and synergistic effects of temperature and population density on the host–pathogen system is limited. Here, we tested the interactional effects of these environmental factors on phenotypic plasticity, immune defenses, and disease resistance in the velvetbean caterpillar Anticarsia gemmatalis. Upon egg hatching, caterpillars were reared in thermostat‐controlled chambers in a 2 × 4 factorial design: density (1 or 8 caterpillars/pot) and temperature (20, 24, 28, or 32°C). Of the immune defenses assessed, encapsulation response was directly affected by none of the environmental factors; capsule melanization increased with temperature in both lone‐ and group‐reared caterpillars, although the lone‐reared ones presented the most evident response, and hemocyte numbers decreased with temperature regardless of the population density. Temperature, but not population density, affected considerably the time from inoculation to death of velvetbean caterpillar. Thus, velvetbean caterpillars succumbed to Anticarsia gemmatalis multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AgMNPV) more quickly at higher temperatures than at lower temperatures. As hypothesized, temperature likely affected caterpillars' movement rates, and thus the contact between conspecifics, which in turn affected the phenotypic expression of group‐reared caterpillars. Our results suggest that environmental factors, mainly temperature, strongly affect both the course of disease in velvetbean caterpillar population and its defenses against pathogens. As a soybean pest, velvetbean caterpillar may increase its damage on soybean fields under a scenario of global warming as caterpillars may reach the developmental resistance faster, and thus decrease their susceptibility to biological control by AgMNPV.  相似文献   

14.
Thermotolerance traits vary across geographical gradients but there is a lack of clinal variation in some Drosophila species. Thus, it is not clear whether thermotolerance or other correlated traits are the target of natural selection. In order to test selection responses, we investigated body melanization and thermotolerance traits in six altitudinal populations of Drosophila melanogaster . Based on rearing different geographical populations under uniform growth conditions at 21 °C (common garden experiments), clinal variations for cold resistance are in the direction opposite to heat resistance along an altitudinal gradient, that is darker flies from highland populations evidenced higher levels of cold resistance while lowland populations showed higher heat resistance. Phenotypic plastic responses for body melanization at 17–28 °C showed significant correlations with thermotolerance traits. At 17 °C, regression coefficients as a function of altitude are highly significant and positive for cold resistance but negative for heat knockdown. However, for flies reared at 28 °C, there is no elevational change in melanization as well as thermotolerance traits. Thus, both genetic and plastic changes of body melanization and thermotolerance traits suggest a correlated selection response. Further, within-population analyses of body melanization (based on dark, intermediate and light color phenotypes) showed significant associations with thermotolerance traits. Correlated variations in body melanization and thermal tolerances are associated with climatic thermal variability ( T cv) but not with T min. or T max. along an altitudinal gradient.  相似文献   

15.
The role of melanization and cuticular lipids in water conservation has been studied in many Drosophila species (Diptera: Drosophilidae). Nevertheless, a comparative approach to larval and adult stages of ecologically diverse, wild Drosophila species is still required. Based upon abdominal cuticular melanization patterns, wild‐caught Drosophila species were categorized as (1) melanic, (2) fixed‐melanic, or (3) non‐melanic. At the interspecific level, the ecological significance of melanization and cuticular lipids was determined by the inverse association of melanization and cuticular water loss in melanic species, and of cuticular lipids and cuticular water loss in fixed‐melanic and non‐melanic species. Interestingly, higher amounts of cuticular lipids were also evident in fixed as well as non‐melanic species, as compared to melanic species at larval stages, which is consistent with their differences in reduced water loss rates. Moreover, fixed‐melanic and non‐melanic species exhibited comparatively higher (ca. 1.8–2.0 fold) desiccation resistance. Thus, cuticular lipids provide a better waterproofing mechanism than melanization. Furthermore, acclimation to dehydration stress in adults improved desiccation resistance in melanic species, whereas such effects were lacking in fixed‐melanic and non‐melanic species. However, there were no changes in cuticular components as a consequence of desiccation acclimation. Thus, our results indicate that melanic, fixed‐melanic, and non‐melanic Drosophila species differ in the evolved physiological mechanisms of water conservation to adapt to dry conditions.  相似文献   

16.
Cercariae of many digenean trematodes target particular developmental stages of their hosts. For some digeneans that are parasites of amphibians, infection appears timed to host metamorphosis. The success and timing of metamorphosis is itself affected by a number of factors, including host density. We investigated the degree to which rearing density of Rana pipiens larvae influenced time to metamorphosis and snout-to-vent length and mass at metamorphosis, as well as establishment of cercariae of the trematode Manodistomum syntomentera Stafford, 1905. As expected, individuals metamorphosed later, were smaller, and weighed less at metamorphosis if they were reared under intermediate to high densities compared with low densities, in experimental outdoor mesocosms. Cercariae establishment was higher in smaller metamorphs that took longer to metamorphose within the low-density treatment. Additionally, cercariae establishment was lower in larvae from the low-density tanks compared with larvae from the intermediate- to high-density tanks. However, more tadpoles had failed to metamorphose in the intermediate to high rearing densities by the time cercariae were no longer available from natural collections of first intermediate hosts, Physa spp. Larval amphibians under crowded conditions should experience increased susceptibility to trematode establishment in nature, but only if they metamorphose within the time period when cercariae are still available.  相似文献   

17.
Organisms evolve two routes to surviving infections—they can resist pathogen growth (resistance) and they can endure the pathogenesis of infection (tolerance). The sum of these two properties together defines the defensive capabilities of the host. Typically, studies of animal defenses focus on either understanding resistance or, to a lesser extent, tolerance mechanisms, thus providing little understanding of the relationship between these two mechanisms. We suggest there are nine possible pairwise permutations of these traits, assuming they can increase, decrease, or remain unchanged in an independent manner. Here we show that by making a single mutation in the gene encoding a protease, CG3066, active in the melanization cascade in Drosophila melanogaster, we observe the full spectrum of changes; these mutant flies show increases and decreases in their resistance and tolerance properties when challenged with a variety of pathogens. This result implicates melanization in fighting microbial infections and shows that an immune response can affect both resistance and tolerance to infections in microbe-dependent ways. The fly is often described as having an unsophisticated and stereotypical immune response where single mutations cause simple binary changes in immunity. We report a level of complexity in the fly's immune response that has strong ecological implications. We suggest that immune responses are highly tuned by evolution, since selection for defenses that alter resistance against one pathogen may change both resistance and tolerance to other pathogens.  相似文献   

18.
There were significant inverse correlations between rearing density of rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri Richardson, and final body weight, plasma L-thyroxine (T4), trüodo-L-tryronine (T3), cortisol and protein concentrations, plasma T4/T3 ratios and thyroid epithelial cell height. In addition, hepatosomatic indices and plasma free fatty acid concentrations were higher in fish reared at low (134 g 1−1) density compared with groups reared at medium (210g1−1) or high density (299g 1−1), and the post-feeding (3.5-4h) elevation in plasma glucose and triglyceride levels evident in trout maintained at low rearing density was not found in those fish reared at higher densities. There were no significant effects of rearing density on hematocrit, carcass composition, hepatic glycogen and lipid levels and interregnal nucleus size.  相似文献   

19.
幼虫密度对甜菜夜蛾生长发育与繁殖的影响   总被引:3,自引:1,他引:3  
为了研究甜菜夜蛾Spodoptera exigua(Hübner)幼虫的密度对其发育及繁殖的影响,本实验观察了5种幼虫密度下(1,5,10,20,30头/瓶),幼虫发育和成虫繁殖情况。结果表明:幼虫和蛹历期、存活率和蛹重均差异显著。幼虫和蛹历期均以20头/瓶的最短,1头/瓶的最长,其余随幼虫密度增加而延长;幼虫至蛹存活率以10头/瓶的最高,其余随幼虫密度增加而降低;1头/瓶的蛹最重,显著高于其他密度的,其余随幼虫密度增加而下降。尽管密度间成虫羽化率和产卵前期均无显著差异,但成虫产卵量、寿命和畸形率差异显著。1头/瓶的产卵量最多,其次为10头/瓶的,其余随幼虫密度增加而减少,30头/瓶的产卵量显著少于其他密度的; 密度在1~20头/瓶范围内,雌蛾寿命均较短,显著短于30头/瓶的,而雄蛾寿命以5头/瓶的最短,显著短于其他密度的(10头/瓶除外),10头/瓶的次之,其余密度间差异不显著;不同幼虫密度下羽化的成虫畸形率差异显著,10头/瓶的最低,其余随幼虫密度增加而升高; 生命表结果表明甜菜夜蛾在10头/瓶下世代存活率和种群增长指数均最高,幼虫密度过低或过高均不利于种群增长;世代存活率(S)和种群增长指数(I)与幼虫密度之间的关系均呈抛物线关系:S =-0.2087x2+2.5694x+211.52 (R2=0.88),I=-0.0552x2+0.9166x+54.168 (R2=0.95)。结果提示幼虫密度影响甜菜夜蛾种群动态的重要生态因子之一。  相似文献   

20.
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