10.5061/DRYAD.6866G
Mattila, Anniina L. K.
University of Helsinki
Data from: Thermal biology of flight in a butterfly: genotype, flight
metabolism, and environmental conditions
Dryad
dataset
2016
Pgi
dispersal evolution
sex difference
dispersal modeling
Melitaea cinxia
Flightin
butterfly flight
2016-10-06T00:00:00Z
2016-10-06T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.1758
57744 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Knowledge of the effects of thermal conditions on animal movement and
dispersal is necessary for a mechanistic understanding of the consequences
of climate change and habitat fragmentation. In particular, the flight of
ectothermic insects such as small butterflies is greatly influenced by
ambient temperature. Here, variation in body temperature during flight is
investigated in an ecological model species, the Glanville fritillary
butterfly (Melitaea cinxia). Attention is paid on the effects of flight
metabolism, genotypes at candidate loci, and environmental conditions.
Measurements were made under a natural range of conditions using infrared
thermal imaging. Heating of flight muscles by flight metabolism has been
presumed to be negligible in small butterflies. However, the results
demonstrate that Glanville fritillary males with high flight metabolic
rate maintain elevated body temperature better during flight than males
with a low rate of flight metabolism. This effect is likely to have a
significant influence on the dispersal performance and fitness of
butterflies and demonstrates the possible importance of intraspecific
physiological variation on dispersal in other similar ectothermic insects.
The results also suggest that individuals having an advantage in low
ambient temperatures can be susceptible to overheating at high
temperatures. Further, tolerance of high temperatures may be important for
flight performance, as indicated by an association of heat-shock protein
(Hsp70) genotype with flight metabolic rate and body temperature at
takeoff. The dynamics of body temperature at flight and factors affecting
it also differed significantly between female and male butterflies,
indicating that thermal dynamics are governed by different mechanisms in
the two sexes. This study contributes to knowledge about factors affecting
intraspecific variation in dispersal-related thermal performance in
butterflies and other insects. Such information is needed for predictive
models of the evolution of dispersal in the face of habitat fragmentation
and climate change.
Data_Thermal biology of flight in a butterfly_Ecology and Evolution
2015Data from: Thermal biology of flight in a butterfly: genotype, flight
metabolism and environmental conditions, Mattila, Anniina L. K., Ecology
and Evolution, 2015. Data includes butterfly flight metabolic rate data,
butterfly body temperature data measured in semi-natural conditions (on
two occasions for each individual; denoted by flight1 and flight2), data
on environmental conditions during body temperature measurements, and
genotype data at candidate gene loci. Experiments were made with
field-collected, common garden-reared Glanville fritillary (Melitaea
cinxia) butterflies.