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Dispersal propensity, but not flight performance, explains variation in dispersal ability.

ABSTRACT: Enhanced dispersal ability may lead to accelerated range expansion and increased rates of population establishment, thereby affecting population genetic structure and evolutionary potential. Morphological, behavioural and physiological traits that characterize dispersive individuals from residents are poorly understood for many invertebrate systems, especially in non-polymorphic pterygote species. Here we examined phenotypic differences between dispersal-prone and philopatric individuals from repeated mark-release-recapture (MRR) experiments using an invasive agricultural pest, Ceratitis capitata Comprehensive morphometric assessment and subsequent minimal adequate modelling using an information theoretic approach identified thorax mass : body mass ratio as a key predictor of disperser flies under semi-natural conditions. Performance differences in flight ability were then examined under controlled laboratory conditions to assess whether greater thorax mass : body mass ratio was associated with enhanced flight ability. The larger thorax : body mass ratio was associated with measurable differences in mean flight duration, most predominantly in males, and also by their willingness to disperse, scored as the number and duration of voluntary flights. No other measures of whole-animal flight performance (e.g. mean and peak vertical force, total or maximum flight duration) differed. Variation in voluntary behaviour may result in significant alterations of movement behaviour and realized dispersal in nature. This phenomenon may help explain intraspecific variation in the dispersal ability of insects.

SUBMITTER: Steyn VM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5013764 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Dispersal propensity, but not flight performance, explains variation in dispersal ability.

Steyn Vernon M VM Mitchell Katherine A KA Terblanche John S JS

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20160801 1836

Enhanced dispersal ability may lead to accelerated range expansion and increased rates of population establishment, thereby affecting population genetic structure and evolutionary potential. Morphological, behavioural and physiological traits that characterize dispersive individuals from residents are poorly understood for many invertebrate systems, especially in non-polymorphic pterygote species. Here we examined phenotypic differences between dispersal-prone and philopatric individuals from re ...[more]

PMID: 27488649

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Project description:Dispersal plays a crucial role in many aspects of species' life histories, yet is often difficult to measure directly. This is particularly true for many insects, especially nocturnal species (e.g. moths) that cannot be easily observed under natural field conditions. Consequently, over the past five decades, laboratory tethered flight techniques have been developed as a means of measuring insect flight duration and speed. However, these previous designs have tended to focus on single species (typically migrant pests), and here we describe an improved apparatus that allows the study of flight ability in a wide range of insect body sizes and types. Obtaining dispersal information from a range of species is crucial for understanding insect population dynamics and range shifts. Our new laboratory tethered flight apparatus automatically records flight duration, speed, and distance of individual insects. The rotational tethered flight mill has very low friction and the arm to which flying insects are attached is extremely lightweight while remaining rigid and strong, permitting both small and large insects to be studied. The apparatus is compact and thus allows many individuals to be studied simultaneously under controlled laboratory conditions. We demonstrate the performance of the apparatus by using the mills to assess the flight capability of 24 species of British noctuid moths, ranging in size from 12-27 mm forewing length (~40-660 mg body mass). We validate the new technique by comparing our tethered flight data with existing information on dispersal ability of noctuids from the published literature and expert opinion. Values for tethered flight variables were in agreement with existing knowledge of dispersal ability in these species, supporting the use of this method to quantify dispersal in insects. Importantly, this new technology opens up the potential to investigate genetic and environmental factors affecting insect dispersal among a wide range of species.

Project description:Variation in the ability to fly or not is a key mechanism for differences in local species occurrences. It is increasingly acknowledged that physiological or behavioral mechanisms rather than morphological differences may drive flight abilities. However, our knowledge on the seasonal variability and stressors creating nonmorphological differences in flight abilities and how it scales to local and regional occurrences is very limited particularly for small, short-lived species such as insects. Here, we examine how flight ability might vary across seasons and between two closely related genera of freshwater beetles with similar geographical ranges, life histories, and dispersal-related morphology. By combining flight experiments of >1,100 specimens with colonization rates in a metacommunity of 54 ponds in northern and eastern Europe, we have analyzed the relationship between flight ability and spatio-environmental distribution of the study genera. We find profound differences in flight ability between the two study genera across seasons. High flight ability for Acilius (97% of the tested individuals flew during the experiments) and low for Graphoderus (14%) corresponded to the different colonization rates of newly created ponds. Within a 5-year period, 81 and 31% of the study ponds were colonized by Acilius and Graphoderus, respectively. While Acilius dispersed throughout the season, flight activity in Graphoderus was restricted to stressed situations immediately after the emergence of adults. Regional colonization ability of Acilius was independent of spatial connectivity and mass effect from propagule sources. In contrast, Graphoderus species were closely related to high connectivity between ponds in the landscape. Our data suggest that different dispersal potential can account for different local occurrences of Acilius and Graphoderus. In general, our findings provide some of the first insights into the understanding of seasonal restrictions in flight patterns of aquatic beetles and their consequences for species distributions.

Dataset Information

Dispersal propensity, but not flight performance, explains variation in dispersal ability.

Publications

Dispersal propensity, but not flight performance, explains variation in dispersal ability.

Similar Datasets

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