Divergent strategies for adaptations to stress resistance in two tropical Drosophila species: effects of developmental acclimation for D. bipectinata and the invasive species - D. malerkotliana

Previous studies on two tropical Drosophila species (D. malerkotliana and D. bipectinata) have shown lower resistance to stress-related traits but the rapid colonization of D. malerkotliana in the past few decades is not consistent with its sensitivity to desiccation and cold stress. We tested the hypothesis that developmental acclimation at two growth temperatures (17 and 25°C) can confer adaptations to desiccation and thermal stresses. We found divergence in developmental plastic effects on cuticular traits, i.e. a significant increase of body melanisation (~2-fold) and of cuticular lipid mass (~3-fold) in D. malerkotliana but only 1.5-fold higher cuticular lipid mass in D. bipectinata when grown at 17°C compared with 25°C. A comparison of the water budget of these two species showed significantly higher effects of developmental acclimation on body water content, rate of water loss and dehydration tolerance resulting in higher desiccation resistance in D. malerkotliana than in D. bipectinata. When grown in cooler conditions (17°C), D. malerkotliana had greater resistance to cold as well as desiccation stress. In contrast, heat resistance of D. bipectinata was higher when grown at 25°C. These laboratory observations are supported by data on seasonally varying populations. Furthermore, adult D. malerkotliana acclimated to different stresses showed greater resistance to those stresses than D. bipectinata adults. Thus, significant increase in stress resistance of D. malerkotliana through developmental acclimation may be responsible for its invasion and ecological success on different continents compared with D. bipectinata.