The Colors We Didn’t See: The Heritability of Wing Interference Patterns (WIPs) and Their Roles in Female Choice in Drosophila melanogaster
(2014) BIOM32 20131Degree Projects in Biology
- Abstract
- Abstract
Transparent membranous wings from small insects cast vivid colors in dark backgrounds due to light wave interference. Such pattern is called the Wing Interference Patterns (WIPs). WIPs are a potentially important trait that has been largely overlooked in the past; the response to natural selection and the role it plays in sexual selection are unknown. In this study we evaluated the narrow sense heritability of WIPs in an outbred population of Drosophila melanogaster using a paternal half-sib experimental design. Data was collected from 74 half-sib families, each including five male and female progenies. We used a linear mixed effects model to give the estimation of phenotypic variances. The heritability (h2) of WIPs (Hue) is... (More) - Abstract
Transparent membranous wings from small insects cast vivid colors in dark backgrounds due to light wave interference. Such pattern is called the Wing Interference Patterns (WIPs). WIPs are a potentially important trait that has been largely overlooked in the past; the response to natural selection and the role it plays in sexual selection are unknown. In this study we evaluated the narrow sense heritability of WIPs in an outbred population of Drosophila melanogaster using a paternal half-sib experimental design. Data was collected from 74 half-sib families, each including five male and female progenies. We used a linear mixed effects model to give the estimation of phenotypic variances. The heritability (h2) of WIPs (Hue) is 66%. Furthermore we designed a female choice experiment to test if the male’s WIPs play a role in courtship success. Multiple regression analysis was applied using two WIP traits (Hue and Saturation) and two size traits (Thorax and Wing size) to predict the attractiveness in two backgrounds, black and white. WIP traits played a significant role in the black background while in the white background it was size traits and their interactions with WIPs (Hue) that mattered. This project is the first to test the structural color on the transparent membranous wings of wild-type D. melanogaster population as a heritable trait, and its response to female choice had been confirmed. (Less) - Abstract
- Popular science summary:
One of the greatest challenges in studying animal behavior is to understand it from the animal’s perspective. We will never know exactly how they look at or think about the world, but we can infer a lot from giving them signals and seeing their responses.
In evolutionary biology, we are trying to find out what forces drove change in a specific direction. The “force” or selection can be a pressure from nature, such as predation, resource competition, or selection from the opposite sex.
In the animal Kingdom, female choice plays a big role in shaping the looks of males, the most striking cases being the exaggerated color patters of birds. The birds’ colors are obvious to humans and are thus easier for us to... (More) - Popular science summary:
One of the greatest challenges in studying animal behavior is to understand it from the animal’s perspective. We will never know exactly how they look at or think about the world, but we can infer a lot from giving them signals and seeing their responses.
In evolutionary biology, we are trying to find out what forces drove change in a specific direction. The “force” or selection can be a pressure from nature, such as predation, resource competition, or selection from the opposite sex.
In the animal Kingdom, female choice plays a big role in shaping the looks of males, the most striking cases being the exaggerated color patters of birds. The birds’ colors are obvious to humans and are thus easier for us to infer, however what can we tell from the transparent wings from little fruit flies?
As it turns out, the transparent wings are actually a misperception due to our typically all white lab environment. In a non-white background those transparent wings cast vivid colors, and the aim for this study is to find out if those overlooked colors were like the beautiful male bird, that plays a big role in attracting females.
We firstly tried to figure out how much of that color is has a genetic influence. We tested 37 families where the offspring from each family are from one father but two mothers, since we know their relatedness, by comparing their physical similarity with their genetic similarity, we found out that 66% of the color patterns can be explained by genetic variation.
Knowing this is important because we now know the color will respond to female choice and the preferred color will pass to next generation. We tested 153 males’ mating performance, and as it turned out more attractive males usually have a more vivid color patterns.
This study showed that we could use easy manipulations to gain a glimpse into the understanding of complex animal behavior. Noticing little details that people have previously overlooked can sometimes make a big difference.
Supervisor: Jessica Abbott
Master´s Degree Project in Animal Ecology 30 credits
Department of Biology, Lund University (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/4438685
- author
- Li, Qinyang
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- BIOM32 20131
- year
- 2014
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 4438685
- date added to LUP
- 2014-05-19 13:45:13
- date last changed
- 2014-05-19 13:45:13
@misc{4438685,
abstract = {{Popular science summary:
One of the greatest challenges in studying animal behavior is to understand it from the animal’s perspective. We will never know exactly how they look at or think about the world, but we can infer a lot from giving them signals and seeing their responses.
In evolutionary biology, we are trying to find out what forces drove change in a specific direction. The “force” or selection can be a pressure from nature, such as predation, resource competition, or selection from the opposite sex.
In the animal Kingdom, female choice plays a big role in shaping the looks of males, the most striking cases being the exaggerated color patters of birds. The birds’ colors are obvious to humans and are thus easier for us to infer, however what can we tell from the transparent wings from little fruit flies?
As it turns out, the transparent wings are actually a misperception due to our typically all white lab environment. In a non-white background those transparent wings cast vivid colors, and the aim for this study is to find out if those overlooked colors were like the beautiful male bird, that plays a big role in attracting females.
We firstly tried to figure out how much of that color is has a genetic influence. We tested 37 families where the offspring from each family are from one father but two mothers, since we know their relatedness, by comparing their physical similarity with their genetic similarity, we found out that 66% of the color patterns can be explained by genetic variation.
Knowing this is important because we now know the color will respond to female choice and the preferred color will pass to next generation. We tested 153 males’ mating performance, and as it turned out more attractive males usually have a more vivid color patterns.
This study showed that we could use easy manipulations to gain a glimpse into the understanding of complex animal behavior. Noticing little details that people have previously overlooked can sometimes make a big difference.
Supervisor: Jessica Abbott
Master´s Degree Project in Animal Ecology 30 credits
Department of Biology, Lund University}},
author = {{Li, Qinyang}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The Colors We Didn’t See: The Heritability of Wing Interference Patterns (WIPs) and Their Roles in Female Choice in Drosophila melanogaster}},
year = {{2014}},
}