Developmental and adult acclimation impact cold and drought survival of invasive tropical Drosophila kikkawai

Narrow distribution patterns of tropical Drosophila species are limited by lower resistance to cold or drought. In the invasive tropical Drosophila kikkawai, we tested whether developmental and adult acclimations at cooler temperatures could enhance its stress resistance level. Adult acclimation of winter collected body color morphs revealed a significant increase in the level of cold resistance. For light morph, its abundance during winter is not consistent with thermal-melanism hypothesis. However, higher cold acclimation capacity, as well as storage of energy metabolites could support its winter survival. In the wild-caught light and intermediate morphs, there is a lack of trade-off between cold and heat resistance but not in the case of dark morph. Developmental plasticity (15 degrees C) resulted in the fivefold increase of cold survival at 0 degrees C; and a twofold increase in desiccation resistance but a modest reduction (similar to 28-35%) in heat resistance as compared to morph strains reared at 25 degrees C. Drought acclimation changes were significantly higher as compared with cold or heat pretreatment. We observed a trade-off between basal resistance and acclimation capacity for cold, heat, or drought resistance. For homeostatic energy balance, adult acclimation responses (cold versus drought; heat versus drought) caused compensatory plastic changes in the levels of proline or trehalose (shared patterns) but different patterns for total body lipids. In contrast, rapid cold or heat hardening-induced changes in energy metabolites were different as compared to acclimation. The ability of D. kikkawai to significantly increase stress tolerance through plasticity is likely to support its invasion potential.

Automated summary

The narrow distribution patterns of tropical Drosophila species are limited by lower resistance to cold or drought. Through cold acclimation and developmental plasticity, the invasive tropical Drosophila kikkawai can enhance its cold resistance capacity and potentially support its winter survival by storing energy metabolites. Different color morphs show varying levels of resistance to different environmental stressors, with a potential for effective adaptive responses.