University thesis:
Dissertation, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät der Universität Greifswald, 2020
Footnote:
Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 43-53
Description:
<i>Pieris napi<i>, Climatic adaptation, Environmental gradient, Local adaptation
Global climate change is omnipresent all over the world and is affecting and challenging organisms in various ways. Species either have to adapt to the changing environmental conditions or move to new habitats in order to avoid extinction. Possible ways for an organism to react can be dispersal, phenotypic plasticity, genetic adaptation or a combination of these factors. Among the various consequences of climate change, especially changes in temperature affect plenty of species. In ectotherms, the body temperature and associated mechanisms are strongly dependent on environmental conditions. The aim of this work was to investigate the mechanisms underlying adaptation to thermal variation and heat stress in the widespread butterfly species <i>Pieris napi<i>. Focusing on indicators of individual condition, including morphology, physiology and life history traits, the purpose was to specify whether the species’ responses to temperature variation have a plastic or genetic basis. In the first experiment, phenotypic variation along a latitudinal and altitudinal cline was investigated. Yellow reflectance of wings was negatively correlated with wing melanisation, providing evidence for a trade-off between a sexually selected trait (yellow color) and thermoregulation (black color). Body size decreased with increasing latitude and led to the assumption that warmer conditions are more beneficial for <i>P. napi<i> than cooler ones. An increased flight performance at higher altitudes but ...