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Green-brown polymorphism in alpine grasshoppers affects body temperature.

ABSTRACT: Ectothermic animals depend on external heat sources for pursuing their daily activities. However, reaching sufficiently high temperature can be limiting at high altitudes, where nights are cold and seasons short. We focus on the role of a green-brown color polymorphism in grasshoppers from alpine habitats. The green-brown polymorphism is phylogenetically and spatially widespread among Orthopterans and the eco-evolutionary processes that contribute to its maintenance have not yet been identified.We here test whether green and brown individuals heat up to different temperatures under field conditions. If they do, this would suggest that thermoregulatory capacity might contribute to the maintenance of the green-brown polymorphism.We recorded thorax temperatures of individuals sampled and measured under field conditions. Overall, thorax temperatures ranged 1.7-42.1°C. Heat up during morning hours was particularly rapid, and temperatures stabilized between 31 and 36°C during the warm parts of the day. Female body temperatures were significantly higher than body temperatures of males by an average of 2.4°C. We also found that brown morphs were warmer by 1.5°C on average, a pattern that was particularly supported in the polymorphic club-legged grasshopper Gomphocerus sibiricus and the meadow grasshopper Pseudochorthippus parallelus.The difference in body temperature between morphs might lead to fitness differences that can contribute to the maintenance of the color polymorphism in combination with other components, such as crypsis, that functionally trade-off with the ability to heat up. The data may be of more general relevance to the maintenance of a high prevalence polymorphism in Orthopteran insects.

SUBMITTER: Kohler G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6972831 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Green-brown polymorphism in alpine grasshoppers affects body temperature.

Köhler Günter G Schielzeth Holger H

Ecology and evolution 20191208 1

Ectothermic animals depend on external heat sources for pursuing their daily activities. However, reaching sufficiently high temperature can be limiting at high altitudes, where nights are cold and seasons short. We focus on the role of a green-brown color polymorphism in grasshoppers from alpine habitats. The green-brown polymorphism is phylogenetically and spatially widespread among Orthopterans and the eco-evolutionary processes that contribute to its maintenance have not yet been identified. ...[more]

PMID: 31988736

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Project description:Dietary fiber affects canine physiology in many ways, such as increasing colonic absorption of water and improving gut health, both of which may positively impact exercise performance. The objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of increased dietary soluble fiber and incremental training on respiratory rate (RR), internal body temperature (BT), body composition, and fecal metabolites in mid-distance training sled dogs. Fourteen dogs (12 Siberian and 2 Alaskan Huskies) were blocked by age, sex, and body weight (BW) and then randomly allocated into one of two diet groups. Seven dogs were fed a dry extruded control diet (Ctl) with an insoluble:soluble fiber ratio of 4:1 (0.74% soluble fiber on a dry-matter basis), and seven dogs were fed a dry extruded treatment diet (Trt) with an insoluble:soluble fiber ratio of 3:1 (2.12% soluble fiber on a dry-matter basis). Fecal samples were taken once a week. All dogs underwent 9 weeks of incremental exercise conditioning where the running distance was designed to increase each week. Every 3 weeks, external telemetry equipment was used to non-invasively measure and record RR and internal BT at resting, working, and post-exercise recovery states. Body composition was measured on weeks -1 and 9 using quantitative magnetic resonance. Body composition, RR, BT, and fecal metabolites were analyzed using a mixed model with dog as a random effect and week and diet group as fixed effects. Dogs on Trt had lower working and post-exercise BT than Ctl (P < 0.05). In addition, Trt dogs had lower recovery BT at weeks 2 and 5 than Ctl dogs (P < 0.05). Treatment dogs had greater fecal short-chain fatty acid concentrations than Ctl (P < 0.05). Diet had no effect on RR or body composition (P > 0.10), but exercise resulted in an overall 7% increase in lean and 3.5% decrease in fat mass (P < 0.05). These data suggest that increasing dietary soluble fiber may positively influence BT and gut health; however, it has no effect on RR or body composition. Soluble fiber did not negatively impact any measures of overall health and performance and should be considered for use in performance dogs.

Dataset Information

Green-brown polymorphism in alpine grasshoppers affects body temperature.

Publications

Green-brown polymorphism in alpine grasshoppers affects body temperature.

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