Abstract
The interaction between inbreeding and high-temperature stress was examined in the cactophilic fruit fly, Drosophila buzzatii. Embryos of four inbreeding levels (F = 0, F = 0.25, F = 0.375, F = 0.5) were either maintained at 25°C throughout egg-to-adult development or were exposed to 41.5°C for 110 min at an age of 20 h. Hatching, larva-to-pupa survival, pupa-to-adult survival, and egg-to-adult survival were estimated. Heat shock reduced hatching rates, but survival to adulthood for individuals that hatched was unaffected by the heat shock. Inbreeding reduced the proportion of eggs hatching in the 25°C control group only. For larva-to-pupa and pupa-to-adult survival there was no interaction between inbreeding and stress. The effect of inbreeding on egg-to-adult survival was stronger in the 25°C control group compared with the group exposed to heat shock. The results imply environmental dependency of inbreeding depression and suggest that stress tolerance may not always be reduced by inbreeding. The thermal microenvironment of cactus rots in the field was assessed by measuring temperatures inside 17 rots. Internal rot temperatures varied with a maximum temperature of 48°C during the day. Selection for temperature tolerance in nature may have depleted genetic variation for this trait limiting the effect of inbreeding on thermal resistance.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Bergh, S, and Arking, R. 1984. Developmental profile of the heat-shock response in early embryos of Drosophila. J Exp Zool, 231, 379–391.
Charlesworth, D, and Charlesworth, B. 1987. Inbreeding depression and its evolutionary consequences. Ann Rev Ecol Syst, 18, 237–268.
Coyne, J A, Bundgaard, J, and Prout, T. 1983. Geographic variation of tolerance to environmental stress in Drosophila pseudoobscura. Am Nat, 122, 474–488.
Dahlgaard, J, Krebs, R A, and Loeschcke, V. 1995. Heat-shock tolerance and inbreeding in Drosophila buzzatii. Heredity, 74, 157–163.
Ehiobu, N G, Goddard, M E, and Taylor, J F. 1989. Effect of rate of inbreeding on inbreeding depression in Drosophila melanogaster. Theor Appl Genet, 77, 123–127.
Falconer, D S. 1989. Introduction to Quantitative Genetics, 3rd edn. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Feder, J H, Rossi, J M, Solomon, N, and Lindquist, S. 1992. The consequences of expressing hsp70 in Drosophila cells at normal temperatures. Genes Devel, 6, 1402–1413.
Hauser, D P, and Loeschcke, V. 1996. Drought stress and inbreeding depression in Lychnis flos-cuculi (Caryophyllaceae). Evolution, 50, 1119–1126.
Hauser, T P, Damgaard, C, and Loeschcke, V. 1994. Effects of inbreeding in small plant populations: expectations, and implications for conservation. In: Loeschcke, V., Tomiuk, J. and Jain, S. K. (eds) Conservation Genetics, pp. 115–130. Birkhäuser, Basel.
Hoffmann, A A, and Parsons, P A. 1991. Evolutionary Genetics and Environmental Stress. Oxford Science Publications, Oxford.
Komaki, M K. 1982. Inbreeding depression and concealed deleterious mutations in buckwheat populations, Fagopyrum esculentum. Jap J Genet, 57, 361–370.
Krebs, R A, and Loeschcke, V. 1994. Response to environmental change: Genetic variation and fitness in Drosophila buzzatii following temperature stress. In: Loeschcke, V., Tomiuk, J. and Jain, S.K. (eds) Conservation Genetics, pp. 309–322. Birkhäuser, Basel.
Krebs, R A, and Loeschcke, V. 1995. Resistance to thermal stress in preadult Drosophila buzzatii: variation among populations and changes in relative resistance across life stages. Biol J Linn Soc, 56, 517–531.
Krebs, R A, and Loeschcke, V. 1996. Selection for increased resistance and acclimation to thermal stress in Drosophila buzzatii. Genetics, 142, 471–479.
Langridge, J. 1962. A genetic and molecular basis for heterosis in Arabidopsis and Drosophila. Am Nat, 96, 5–27.
Langridge, J. 1968. Thermal responses of mutant enzymes and temperature limits to growth. Mol Gen Genet, 103, 116–126.
Levin, D A. 1984. Inbreeding depression and proximity-dependent crossing success in Phlox drummondii. Evolution, 38, 116–127.
Loeschcke, V, Krebs, R A, and Barker, J S F. 1994. Genetic variation for resistance and acclimation to high temperature stress in Drosophila buzzatii. Biol J Linn Soc, 52, 83–92.
Maynard Smith, J. 1956. Acclimatization to high temperatures in inbred and outbred Drosophila subobscura. J Genet, 54, 497–505.
Parsell, D A, and Lindquist, S. 1994. Heat-shock proteins and stress tolerance. In: Morimoto, R. I., Tissieres, A. and Georgopoulos, C. (eds) The Biology of Heat-shock Proteins and Molecular Chaperones, pp. 457–494. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, New York.
Parsons, P A. 1971. Extreme-environment heterosis and genetic loads. Heredity, 26, 579–583.
Parsons, P A. 1987. Evolutionary rates under environmental stress. Evol Biol, 21, 311–347.
Pray, L A, Schwartz, J M, Goodnight, C J, and Stevens, L. 1994. Environmental dependency of inbreeding depression: Implications for conservation biology. Conserv Biol, 8, 562–568.
Prout, T, and Barker, J S F. 1993. F-statistics in Drosophila buzzatii: selection, population size and inbreeding. Genetics, 134, 369–375.
SAS Institute. 1989. SAS/Stat Users Guide. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC.
Welte, M A, Tetrault, J M, Dellavalle, R P, and Lindquist, S L. 1993. A new method for manipulating transgenes: engineering heat tolerance in a complex, multicellular organism. Curr Biol, 3, 842–853.
Wright, S. 1977. Evolution and the Genetics of Populations, vol 3, Experimental Results and Evolutionary Deductions. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dahlgaard, J., Loeschcke, V. Effects of inbreeding in three life stages of Drosophila buzzatii after embryos were exposed to a high temperature stress. Heredity 78, 410–416 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1997.64
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1997.64
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Inbreeding depression does not increase after exposure to a stressful environment: a test using compensatory growth
BMC Evolutionary Biology (2016)
-
Comparison of thermal activity thresholds of the spider mite predators Phytoseiulus macropilis and Phytoseiulus persimilis (Acari: Phytoseiidae)
Experimental and Applied Acarology (2013)
-
Effects of inbreeding on life history and thermal performance in the tropical butterfly Bicyclus anynana
Population Ecology (2012)
-
Inbreeding-environment interactions for fitness: complex relationships between inbreeding depression and temperature stress in a seed-feeding beetle
Evolutionary Ecology (2011)
-
Effects of Self-Fertilization, Environmental Stress and Exposure to Xenobiotics on Fitness-Related Traits of the Freshwater Snail Lymnaea stagnalis
Ecotoxicology (2006)