Heritability and evolutionary potential in thermal tolerance traits in the invasive Mediterranean cryptic species of Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae)

PLoS One. 2014 Jul 23;9(7):e103279. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0103279. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

With advancing global climate change, the analysis of thermal tolerance and evolutionary potential is important in explaining the ecological adaptation and changes in the distribution of invasive species. To reveal the variation of heat resistance and evolutionary potential in the invasive Mediterranean cryptic species of Bemisia tabaci, we selected two Chinese populations-one from Harbin, N China, and one from Turpan, S China-that experience substantial heat and cold stress and conducted knockdown tests under static high- and low-temperature conditions. ANOVAs indicated significant effects of populations and sex on heat knockdown time and chill coma recovery time. The narrow-sense heritability (h2) estimates of heat tolerance based on a parental half-sibling breeding design ranged from 0.47 ± 0.03 to 0.51 ± 0.06, and the estimates of cold tolerance varied from 0.33 ± 0.07 to 0.36 ± 0.06. Additive genetic variances were significantly different from zero for both heat and cold tolerance. These results suggest that invasive B. tabaci Mediterranean cryptic species possesses a strong ability to respond to thermal selection and develops rapid resistance to climate change.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acclimatization*
  • Animals
  • Biological Evolution
  • China
  • Climate Change
  • Female
  • Genetic Variation
  • Hemiptera / genetics
  • Hemiptera / physiology*
  • Introduced Species
  • Male
  • Temperature

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31100269), and the National Basic Research and Development Program (Grant No. 2009CB119200), the Ministry of Science and Technology, China, and Common Wealth Special Fund for the Agricultural Industry (No. 201303019). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.