Understanding the adaptive potential of a species is key when predicting whether a species can contend with climate change. Adaptive capacity depends on the amount of genetic variation within a population for relevant traits. However, genetic variation changes in different environments, making it difficult to predict whether a trait will respond to selection when not measured directly in that environment. Here, we investigated how genetic variances, and phenotypic and genetic covariances, between a fitness trait and morphological traits changed between thermal environments in two closely-related Drosophila. If morphological traits strongly correlate with fitness, they may provide an easy-to-measure proxy of fitness to aid in understanding adaptation potential. We used a parent-offspring quantitative genetic design to test the effect of a benign (23°C) and stressful (28°C) thermal environment on genetic variances of fecundity and wing size and shape, and their phenotypic and genetic covariances. We found genetic variances were higher within the stressful environment for fecundity but lower within the stressful environment for wing size. We did not find evidence for significant phenotypic correlations. Phenotypic and genetic correlations did not reveal a consistent pattern between thermal environments or within or between species. This corroborates previous research and reiterates that conclusions drawn in one environment about the adaptive potential of a trait, and the relationship of that trait with fitness, cannot be extrapolated to other environments or within or between closely-related species. This confirms that researchers should use caution when generalising findings across environments in terms of genetic variation and adaptive potential.
The Chestnut-backed Button-quail Turnix castanotus is widely distributed in monsoonal tropical woodland but previously known only from the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Here we provide the first verified record in Queensland. We observed at least eight birds during October and November 2020 at Westmoreland Station, which is located in far north-western Queensland. These observations represent a significant (~215 km) easterly range extension and are the first confirmed records of this species for Queensland. Chestnut-backed Button-quail had gone undetected in Queensland likely owing to the difficulty in locating and identifying button-quail generally and the low number of birdwatchers in the region. A potential record made by W.R. McLennan in 1910 may represent a previously unreported record of this species in Queensland. Here we describe our observations in 2020 and the habitat where the species was recorded.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.