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Domestication modifies the volatile emissions produced by male Queensland fruit flies during sexual advertisement.

ABSTRACT: Insects commonly undergo substantial changes during adaptation for laboratory or mass-rearing environments ('domestication') that may have significant implications for inferences from laboratory studies and utility for biological control. We assessed the effect of domestication on the amount and blend of volatiles released during sexual calling by laboratory-reared Bactrocera tryoni males using colonies from three regions of Australia: Brisbane, Cairns and Sydney. For each region, volatiles released by males from a young colony (five or fewer generations) and an old colony (20+ generations) during sexual calling was compared. Males from old colonies released more volatiles than males from young colonies. All components of the blend were more abundant in one or more of the older colonies, although differences varied by compound and by region. To assess changes over generations, the young and old colonies obtained from Brisbane were sampled at 5, 12 and 15 generations (young colony) and 25, 35 and 38 generations (old colony). While the old colony remained unchanged, flies from the young colony released more volatiles at each sequential sampling episode, and became increasingly similar to the old colony. Increased volatile production during domestication may be an adaptive response to crowded rearing conditions in which males need to overcome a chemically noisy environment to be sexually successful.

SUBMITTER: Perez J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6220308 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Domestication modifies the volatile emissions produced by male Queensland fruit flies during sexual advertisement.

Pérez Jeanneth J Park Soo Jean SJ Taylor Phillip W PW

Scientific reports 20181107 1

Insects commonly undergo substantial changes during adaptation for laboratory or mass-rearing environments ('domestication') that may have significant implications for inferences from laboratory studies and utility for biological control. We assessed the effect of domestication on the amount and blend of volatiles released during sexual calling by laboratory-reared Bactrocera tryoni males using colonies from three regions of Australia: Brisbane, Cairns and Sydney. For each region, volatiles rele ...[more]

PMID: 30405136

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Project description:The past 2 decades have seen fruit flies being widely adopted for research on social behavior and aggression. This fruitful research, however, has not been well tied to fruit flies' natural history. To address this knowledge gap, I conducted a field study. My goal was to inform future research conducted in artificial surroundings, and to inspire new investigations that can rely more heavily on fruit flies' actual natural behavior. My two main novel findings were first, that flies in the field showed significant sociability, as they formed social groups rather than dispersed randomly among fruits of similar quality. Second, males showed fair levels of aggression towards each other as indicated by a lunging rate of 17 per hour, and lower rates of wing threat and boxing. Courtship was the most prominent activity on fruits, with females rejecting almost all males' advances. This resulted in an estimated mating rate of 0.6 per female per day. Flies showed a striking peak of activity early in the mornings, even at cold temperatures, followed by inactivity for much of the day and night. Flies, however, handled well high temperatures approaching 40 °C by hiding away from fruit and concentrating activity in the cooler, early mornings. My field work highlights a few promising lines of future research informed by fruit flies' natural history. Most importantly, we do not understand the intriguing dynamics that generate significant sociability despite frequent aggressive interactions on fruits. Males' responses to female rejection signals varied widely, perhaps because the signals differed in information content perceived by flies but not humans. Finally, flies tolerated cold early mornings perhaps owing to fitness benefits associated with increased mating and feeding opportunities at this time. Flies were adept at handling very high temperatures under the natural daily temperature fluctuations and availability of shelters, and this can inform more realistic research on the effects of global warming on animals in their natural settings.

Dataset Information

Domestication modifies the volatile emissions produced by male Queensland fruit flies during sexual advertisement.

Publications

Domestication modifies the volatile emissions produced by male Queensland fruit flies during sexual advertisement.

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