The joint effect of temperature and host species induce complex genotype-by-environment interactions in the larval parasitoid of Drosophila, Leptopilina heterotoma (Hymenoptera: Figitidae)

• Published in: Oikos Vol. 106; no. 3; pp. 451 - 456
• Main Authors: Ris, Nicolas, Allemand, Roland, Fouillet, Pierre, Fleury, Frédéric
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Copenhagen Munksgaard International Publishers 01.09.2004; Blackwell Publishers; Blackwell; Nordic Ecological Society
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Autoecology; Biological and medical sciences; Drosophila; Evolution; Fecundity; Figitidae; Foodborne illnesses; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Host parasite relationships; Hymenoptera; Insect larvae; Larval development; Leptopilina heterotoma; Life Sciences; Other; Parasite hosts; Parasitism; Parasitoids; Protozoa. Invertebrata; Leptopilina heterotoma; Host parasite relation; Temperature; Insecta; Drosophila; Phenotypic plasticity; Environmental factor; Host; Survival; Drosophilidae; Phenotype; Cynipidae; Parasitoid; Genotype environment interaction; Larva; Arthropoda; Hymenoptera; Invertebrata; Fecundity; Diptera; Fitness
• ISSN: 0030-1299; 1600-0706
• DOI: 10.1111/j.0030-1299.2004.13274.x

Phenotypic plasticity and genotype-by-environment interactions are usually studied by testing environmental factors separately. However, several environmental factors may vary simultaneously across the geographic range of a species, and thus interact to drive phenotypic and genotypic evolution. Here, we address the question of the interaction between two environmental factors in the case of a koinobiont parasitoid of Drosophila, Leptopilina heterotoma (Hymenoptera: Figitidae). Using two allopatric parasitoid lines, we analysed the joint effect of developmental temperature and host species on two major fitness components (pre-imaginal survival and fecundity) of emerged parasitoids. Our results indicate that both environmental factors strongly interact to shape the parasitoid phenotype. Moreover, complex genotype-by-environment interactions appeared that can even invert the relative fitness of the two parasitoid lines.