| Abstract: | A genetically variable sensory mechanism provides phenotypic plasticity in the seasonal cycle of the Chrysoperla carnea species-complex of green lacewings. The mechanism functions as a switch during the pupal and early imaginal stages to determine aestival reproduction versus aestival dormancy, and it has two major components: (1) response to photoperiod and (2) response to a stimulus(i) associated with the prey of the larvae. Ultimately, the switch is based on the response to photoperiod—an all-or-nothing trait whose variation (long-day reproduction versus a short-day/long-day requirement for reproduction) is determined by alleles at two unlinked autosomal loci. In eastern North America, variation in this component of the switch differentiates two reproductively isolated “species” that are sympatric throughout the region: Chrysoperla carnea, in which both loci are homozygous for the dominant alleles that determine long-day, spring and summer reproduction and thus multivoltinism, and C. downesi, which has a very high incidence of the recessive alleles for the short-day/long-day requirement, and thus univoltine spring breeding. In contrast, geographical populations in western North America harbor variable amounts of within-and among-family genetic variation for the photoperiodic responses and also for the switch's second component—adult responsiveness to the prey of the larvae. The geographic pattern of genetic variation in the two components of the switch indicates that it is a highly integrated adaptation to environmental heterogeneity. Expression of among-family variation in the prey component of the switch is highly dependent on photoperiodic conditions and genotype (it requires a constant long daylength and the recessive short-day/long-day genotype). Thus, we infer that responsiveness to prey evolved as a modifier of the photoperiodic trait. The switch has a significant negative effect on a major determinant of fitness; it lengthens the preoviposition period in nondiapausing reproductives. This negative effect may result in temporal variation in the direction of selection, which helps maintain genetic variability in the switch mechanisms of western populations. Also, the photoperiodic and prey components of the switch are positively correlated with fecundity in nondiapausing reproductives; however, the strong influence of environmental factors—presence or absence of prey—leaves open the question whether the correlated effects on fecundity are expressed in nature. |
