Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Butterfly survival on an isolated island by improved grip

Duplouy, Anne LU and Hanski, Ilkka (2013) In Biology letters 9(2).
Abstract
On small isolated islands, natural selection is expected to reduce the dispersal capacity of organisms, as short distances do not require a high rate of dispersal, which might lead to accidental emigration from the population. In addition, individuals foregoing the high cost of maintaining flight capacity may instead allocate resources to other functions. However, in butterflies and many other insects, flight is necessary not only for dispersal but also for most other activities. A weakly flying individual would probably do worse and have an elevated rather than reduced probability of accidental emigration. Here, we report results consistent with the hypothesis that a butterfly population on an isolated island, instead of having lost its... (More)
On small isolated islands, natural selection is expected to reduce the dispersal capacity of organisms, as short distances do not require a high rate of dispersal, which might lead to accidental emigration from the population. In addition, individuals foregoing the high cost of maintaining flight capacity may instead allocate resources to other functions. However, in butterflies and many other insects, flight is necessary not only for dispersal but also for most other activities. A weakly flying individual would probably do worse and have an elevated rather than reduced probability of accidental emigration. Here, we report results consistent with the hypothesis that a butterfly population on an isolated island, instead of having lost its flight capacity, has evolved better grip to resist the force of wind and to avoid being blown off the island. Our study suggests that local adaptation has occurred in this population in spite of its very small size (Ne ∼ 100), complete isolation, low genetic variation and high genetic load. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Biology letters
volume
9
issue
2
article number
20130020
pages
4 pages
publisher
Royal Society Publishing
external identifiers
  • scopus:84880442555
ISSN
1744-9561
DOI
10.1098/rsbl.2013.0020
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
7e0ad49c-ab30-4f42-8cb9-683c2e431975
date added to LUP
2018-11-12 14:49:22
date last changed
2022-01-31 06:56:37
@article{7e0ad49c-ab30-4f42-8cb9-683c2e431975,
  abstract     = {{On small isolated islands, natural selection is expected to reduce the dispersal capacity of organisms, as short distances do not require a high rate of dispersal, which might lead to accidental emigration from the population. In addition, individuals foregoing the high cost of maintaining flight capacity may instead allocate resources to other functions. However, in butterflies and many other insects, flight is necessary not only for dispersal but also for most other activities. A weakly flying individual would probably do worse and have an elevated rather than reduced probability of accidental emigration. Here, we report results consistent with the hypothesis that a butterfly population on an isolated island, instead of having lost its flight capacity, has evolved better grip to resist the force of wind and to avoid being blown off the island. Our study suggests that local adaptation has occurred in this population in spite of its very small size (Ne ∼ 100), complete isolation, low genetic variation and high genetic load.}},
  author       = {{Duplouy, Anne and Hanski, Ilkka}},
  issn         = {{1744-9561}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
  series       = {{Biology letters}},
  title        = {{Butterfly survival on an isolated island by improved grip}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0020}},
  doi          = {{10.1098/rsbl.2013.0020}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}