Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Drosophila robusta; Drosophila tripunctata;
Abstract
Temperature may be a major factor limiting distribution and abundance of species in the wild. It may be the main influence determining the seasonal abundances of two native species, Drosophila robusta and D. tripunctata, both of which have been collected from a lowland forest . Survival studies indicate that D. tripunctata does not survive as well at high temperatures (27 and 30°c) as does D. robusta (Seager, unpublished data). This suggests that the responses of these two species when placed in a temperature and humidity gradient may be responsible for the difference i n seasonal abundances noted by Jennings et al . (1985). The apparatus developed for this study used a range of temperatures, humidity and associated vapor pressure deficits that were similar to those found in nature. The behavioral responses of the flies in this temperature and vapor pressure gradient were noted, as were the temperature and humidity of the area where the flies were located. The data were analyzed using a nested-factorial ANOVA model. The results showed that there is a highly significant difference in the responses of the two species in the gradient, nor was there a significant sex difference. D. robusta preferred an average of 20.0°c, while D. 0 tripunctata preferred an average of 19.2 C. The average responses of 0 each species were only 0.8 C apart, a difference that may not be meaningful to flies in the wild. Possible reasons for this small difference are discussed, and include preconditioning and selection for preference of this temperature (20°c) during culture. Future work includes testing for both of these possibilities.
Year of Submission
1987
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Biology
First Advisor
Robert Seager
Second Advisor
Virginia Berg
Third Advisor
Paul D. Whitson
Date Original
1987
Object Description
1 PDF file (47 leaves)
Copyright
©1987 Ellen E. Hostert
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Hostert, Ellen E., "Behavioral Responses of Drosophila robusta and Drosophila tripunctata in Response to a Temperature and Humidity Gradient" (1987). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2982.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2982
Comments
If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.