The effect of lead on fitness components and developmental stability inDrosophila subobscura

Abstract

We analyzed the developmental time, egg-to-adult viability, and developmental stability (fluctuating wing size asymmetry) in Drosophila subobscura, maintained for six generations on different concentrations of lead. Development time is significantly affected by generation and lead concentration, but interaction of these factors is not a significant source of variability for this fitness component. Generation and the interaction generation x concentration of lead significantly affect egg-to-adult viability. Levene's test of heterogeneity of variance showed that variability of FA is not significant in any of the samples. Within both lead concentrations females showed significantly higher FA indices for the wing width than males. Within sexes, a significantly higher FA was found only in females for wing width FA between the control and the lower concentration of lead. The results show that if strong relationship between FA and the studied fitness components exists, it results in a stronger selection of unstable genotypes under lead as a stress factor and, consequently, FA needs to be used with caution as a biomarker in natural populations under environmental stress.

Population specific fitness response of Drosophila subobscura to lead pollution

“…One possible explanation for this is directional selection, since a directional shift in the survival curve occurred towards increase in survival in the lead contaminated environments. This type of acquiring resistance to contamination was found in a study of the effect of lead on fitness components in D. subobscura (Stamenkovic-Radak et al, 2008) as well as in studies with other organisms and pollutants (Klerks & Weis, 1987;Reznick & Ghalambor, 2001;Klerks, 2002). Increases of survival and/or higher fecundity of individuals from contaminated localities with respect to individuals from reference localities, both reared in contaminated environment, have been registered in several studies on different species Tranvik et al, 1993;Kovatch et al, 2000).…”

Adaptation to larval malnutrition does not affect fluctuating asymmetry inDrosophila melanogaster

“…It cannot be excluded that particularly asymmetric individuals had been lost to mortality before the measurements were taken. Such developmental selection has been reported in studies where effects of chemicals such as arsenic and lead on fluctuating asymmetry in Drosophila were investigated (Polak, Opoka & Cartwright, 2002;Stamenkovic-Radak et al, 2008). Similarly, these particularly asymmetric individuals could have taken too long to develop to be included in the measured sample, although this is unlikely because developmental time does not seem to correlate with fluctuating asymmetry in Drosophila (Woods et al, 1999;Shakarad et al, 2001).…”

Altered diversity of bacterial communities in two Drosophila species under laboratory conditions and lead exposure

“…Ingested heavy metals have been found to cause significant changes in the microbiota and, consequently, in various physiological statuses [8][9][10]. Lead (Pb) is one of the most widely spread heavy metals in nature; it has a significant effect on different life-history traits of Drosophila species [11][12][13]. Increased concentrations of Pb were observed to significantly affect D. melanogaster in their developmental stages, causing a decrease in the percentage of hatching [14].…”