bottleneck effect on intra-and interspecific competition in...
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Indian Journal of Experimental Biology Vol. 37, April 1999, pp. 359-364
Bottleneck effect on intra- and interspecific competition in Drosophila malerkotliana
S.N.Hegde & M.S.Krishna
Drosophila Stock Centre, Department of Studies in Zoology,
University of Mysore, Manasagangothri, Mysore 570 006, India
Received 6 August 1998; revised 24 December 1998
Intra and interspecific competition experiments involving control and bottleneck lines of monomorphic and polymorphic populations of D.lIlalerkatliana with D.nasuta nasuta have been carried out. Productivity and population size were eva luated in these lines. The results show that control line had higher relative fitness and adaptedness (productivity and populati on s ize) under both intra and interspecific competition than their respective bottleneck lines and D.nasuta nasuta. This indi cates that bottlenecks have an effect on competition in D.malerkatliana. The conseqlience of such competition studies using control and bottleneck lines of D.malerkatliana and D.nasuta nasuta is discussed.
The natural population at times goes through a severe .but temporary reduction in size and in extreme situations population size decreases to a few breeding indi vidual s. When size reduces, populations lose genetic variation. Reduced size thus becomes a bottleneck for operation of natural selection. Thus the demographic dec lines make it necessary to study their evolutionary implications l.4 . This loss of variability is in terms of reduced number of alleles5
.6
, reduced variance in quantitative traits and lack of adaptive flexibility7.8 . Effect of such bottlenecks in the laboratory populations9
.12 has been shown confirming Carson's
theory of founder effect. Carson 13·14 in his theory of
founder effect of speciation has proposed the establishment of a reproductively isolated population trig'gered by bottleneck followed by several generations without selection. Effect of such bottlenecks upon the quantitative genetic variation on morphometric characters of houseflies has been studied by Bryant et al. 10. Goodnightl5 has reported an increase in additive genetic variance following a bottleneck. He suggests that this new additive variance may have arisen through conversion to additive of a position of the epistatic variance present in an ancestral population. Bueno el al. 16 have studied the effect of bottlenecks on the competitive ability of Drosophila pseudoobscura lines and showed that control line had greafer competitive ability than bottleneck lines.
Many workers have suggested that genetic variance can increase after a bottleneck. Increase in the
genetic components of variation in experimentally bottlenecked populations have been observed in houseflies (Musca domestica) by Bryant and his coworkers1o,11. The consequence of increased genetic variance is its effect on fitness, competitive ability and finally sexual isolation. In most of these studies D.simulans and D.pseudoobscura have 'been employed though the genus Drosophila consists of 2400 species. According to Templeton t7 cosmopolitan species is not a good choice to test founder flush-crash model. Hence in the present study D.malerkotliana, a semi-endemic species belonging to the bipectinata complex was employed to study effect of size bottleneck on intra and interspecific competition.
Materials and Methods Establishment of lines (control and bottleneck lines)
In the present experiment, control and bottleneck lines established from chromosomally monomorphic and polymorphic populations of Drosophila malerkotliana collected from Bhogadi, Mysore, (Kamataka) and Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) and D. nasuta nasuta established from isofemale line (Mysore) were used. Initial outbred population of D.malerkotliana was established from 150 naturally inseminated females collected from wild localities. In F2 generation, bottleneck lines were initiated with offspring from exactly one, four and eight pairs (n -1 p, 4p, and 8p) randomly selected from the above outbred population. The bottleneck lines laid eggs for
360 INDIAN J EXP BIOL, APRIL 1999
a week in one culture bottle containing wheat-cream agar medium and for another week in a second culture bottle. All flies from the bottles were m ixed together and redi stributed among 10 new culture bottles , each with 26 flies . After a week these flies were transferred to another cul ture bottle in a second set of 10 new culture bottles. The progeny of these bottles were again mixed together and redistributed to 10 new culture bottles with 26 fli es each. This was repeated 10 times so that once aga in we had 10 cultures each with 26 flies. Additional generations of flush were al so prepared as above. The density of 13 pairs of flies per culture was maintained through out the flu sh phase, so that competition for limited resources wou ld be sli ght or absent, as required in Carson's model. The control line (outbred population) was also maIn tained in the same manner described above for the bottleneck lines . After 10th flu sh cycle both control and bottleneck lines were used to study chromosomal constitution and competition. For chromosomal ana lysis(data on the frequency of inversions), of contro l and bottle'neck iines of polymorphic populations of first .flu sh cyc le (before starting the experiment) and 10th flush cycle was made by squashing 100 larvae from each line using the lacto-aceto··orcein method.
For competition study, eggs were collected separately at the same time using Delcour's procedure IS
from both contro l and bottleneck lines of both chromosomally monomorphic and pol ymorphic populations of D. malerkotliana and D.llasuta nasuta. Eggs ( 100) were seeded in quarter-pint milk bottles and when adults emerged, virgin females and males were isolated within 4 hr of thei r ec losion and were used in the competition experiments . Mean values of 5 sets of both control and their respective bottleneck lines of D. malerkotliana and D.nasuta nasuta were used for the statistical analysis . The experiments were carried out during morning hours (7.00- 10.00 hr) at 22u± I °c..
Experimental procedure for competition Control and bottleneck lines of D. malerkotiiana
and D.nasuta nasuta were used to study the effect of size bottlenecks on competi tion . In the adult competition studies, parameters such as producti vity and population size were eval uated . Control and bottleneck lines of D. malerkotliana and D.nasuta nasuta were employed in both intra- and interspecific competition studies. To ana lyse the productivity and
population size during intraspecific adult competition (pure culture) studies, each population (as mentioned above) was built up with 50 (25 females and 25 males) one week old flies. We have used D.nasuta nasuta In interspecific competItIon with D.malerkotliana. This is because D.nasuta nasuta and D.malerkotliana are fast breeding sympatric species which co-exist in most of the natural environments. In interspecific competition (mixed culture) studies 13 females and 12 males of controllbottleneck line of D.malerkotliana with 13 females and 12 males of D.nasuta nasuta were utilized, the populations were maintained by the serial transfer technique of Ayala 19.
The founder flie s were introduced into. quarterpint -mi lk bottles with fresh medium once in seven days, they were etherized, counted and transferred to fresh bottles when the imagoes began to emerge in bottles where eggs had been laid, they were counted and then added to the bott les contained the adult population. The adult · nies were thus always in one bottle and eggs, larvae, pupae and newly emerged adults were in other bottles. The bott les were di scarded four weeks after the adult flies had been first introduced. Five sets of control and their respective bottleneck lines of D.malerkotliana and D.nasuta nasuta were used. Five rep licates were run for each experiment and their mean values were used to ca lculate productivity and populat ion size for control and bottleneck lines of D.malerkotlianCl 3nd also for D.nasuta nasuta. The pure culture (intraspecific competition) of each species were mainta ined fo r 12 weeks. The mixed culture (interspec ific competition) was maintained till one of the competing species was elIminated.
Results Table I shows freq uencies (%) of he terozygous in
versions in control and bottleneck lines of polymorphic population of D.lIIalerkotliana at first fl ush cycle (before startIng the experiment) and 10th tlush cycle . It was noticed that even at 10th flu sh c cle inversion polymorphi sm persisted in all the lines and variation In frequency of heterozygous inversions was also noticed in control and bottleneck lines. Further. some invers ions which were not present in the fi rst fl ush cycle were started appearing in 10th fl ush cycle. Similarly some inversions which were present 111 the fi rst flush cycle disappeared in 10th f1 ush cycle.
Mean and standard error of productivity and population size of control and bottleneck lines in intra
HEGDE & KRISHNA: INTRA & INTER SPECIFIC COMPETITION IN DROSOPHILA 361
and interspecific competitions are given in Table 2. From thi s table, it is clear that in pure culture (intraspecific competition') adult productivity and population size increases with increasing bottleneck size of monomorphic populations and decreases with increasing bottleneck size of polymorphic populations. Further, control line of monomorphic and polymorphic populations had hi gher producti vity and population size than bottleneck lines and D.nasuta nasuta.
In mi xed culture (interspecific competition) average adult producti vity and population size of D.lI1alerkotliana decreases wi th increas ing bottleneck size of monom orphic populations whereas in poly-
morphic population opposite trend was noticed. Similar pattern of adult productivity and population size of D.n.nasufa under mixed culture with control and bottleneck lines of monomorphic and polymorphic populations were noticed. Average productivity and population size of control line was greater than bottleneck lines in both mono and polymorphic populations .
One way analysis of variance applied to mean productivity and population size in both pure and mixed cultures showed significant difference between control and bottleneck Tines (Table 2).
Figure 1 shows number of weeks taken by control
Tab lc I- Frcquencics (%) of hcterozygous inversions in control and bottleneck lines of polymorphic populat ions of D. malerkotliana
At First Flush Cyc le A t Tenth Flush Cycle Inversions Control Single pai r Four pair Eight pair Control line SIngle pair Four pair
line line line line line line
liLA 4 2 liRA 0 14 Without in version 35 35 3G 32 20 II LA+II LB 8 8 20 2 40 4 II LA+II LB+II LC 0 30 IG 10 15 IILA+II LB+IILC 24 10 2 10 GO ILR A+II LI3 IG 90 2 1 28 23 G IIR A+IILC 28 IILC 4 15
Tab le 2-ln tra and interspecific competition of control and bott leneck lines. [Values are mean + SE)
Line/Popu lation Intraspecifi c competiti on(Pure culture) D.lllolerkotiiolla
Producti vity Population ~ Ize
I. ft, 'ollol/lorp hic pupllloliollS
M±SE M±SE CL 228 .53±9.88 339.80±G.7 1 IP 183 .19±3.5 3 290.02± 7.59 4P 202.04±4.05 313.26± 10.74 8P L24.53±5.70 3 14.23±10.77 D.II .//(]slIla 8 1.79±205 I 7263±3.59 F-Vaiue I 5 (J .(i(y 20 1. 89'
if Pon'lllorp/Ilc popu lOt lOlls CL 192.67±t .99 3 I8.76±9.57 IP 180.S5±6.02 302.89±509 4P 170.18±3. 32 296. 74±3.03 8P 147 .87±6 29 262.48± 7.27 /). II . 1I0SIIto 8 1 .~3±5 .76 I 7263±3 .59 F-V:l lue 25(1 7 1' 172.95'
CL = Control line : I P = Singl e pair bottlencck line 4P = Four pair bott leneck line; 8P = Eight pair bottleneck line (' val ue = ·'« l.05; h< () .() I; '<0.00 I.
Interspecific competition (Mixed culture) D .II .ll osula
Productivity Popu lation Productivity size
M±SE M±SE M±SE I 54.04±0.G2 247.09±0.G9 24.12±0.62 I 29.92±0.48 237.08±0.48 23 .1 G±06 1 124.13±0.66 202. 19±0.67 I (>.22±0.74 I 12.3 2±0.67 183 . 13_0.74 15n±069
47. IY 19.60'" 550 1'
I56 .85±4.23 247.46±8.32 26Jl8± 1.32 104.28±3.20 165 66±6.00 20. 2±O.82 IIG.06±7.IO I R3.48±4.8 1 22.05±0.63 U8.66±7.68 209.84±5 .44 23 31±O.73
62.32b 99.15 b 9.53b
Eight pai r line
2 5
48 12 8 5
18 2
Population size
M±SE 32.09±0.73 2G. 17±0.65 24 .32±0.24 1991±0.69
1799'
31 43±1 77 23.84±O.66 25 .33IO.83 26.2. ±0.49
4.72'
362 INDIAN J EXP BIOL, APRIL 1999
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
" 10
RIB MONOMORPHIC
~ POLYMORPHIC
CL IP 4 P
LINES BP
Fig. I-Interspecific competition of control and bottleneck lines of mono and polymorphic populations in D. ma/erkorlialla . [CL---Control Line; I P--Single pair bottleneck line; 4P-Four pair bottleneck line; 8P- Eight pair bottleneck line].
and bottleneck lines of D.malerkolliana to eliminate D.n.nasula in mixed culture. From this figure, it is clear that control line of monomorphic and polymorphic populations took 10 and 12 weeks respectively to eliminate D.nasuta nasuta in mixed culture. On the other hand, bottleneck lines (I p, 4p and 8p) of monomorphic populations took 12, 14 and 16 weeks to eliminate D.n.nasula while bottleneck lines (Ip, 4p and 8p) of polymorphic populations took 14, 15 and 18 weeks to eliminate D.n.nasuta in mixed culture. This suggests that control line of monomorphic and polymorphic populations had better competitive ability than bottleneck lines. Furthermore, monomorphic populations were better adapted than polymorphic populations.
Discussion It is evident from Table 1 that even at IOih flush
cycle inversion polymorphism persisted in control and bottleneck line of chromosomally polymorphic population of D.malerkotliana. Further, there was variation in the frequency of heterozygous inversions in different lines with respect to different inversions . This agrees with the work of Singh and Banarjee20
who while studymg chromosomal variability and interracial hybridization in D.bipectinata have found persistence of inversion polymorphism in polymor-
phic strains of D.bipectinata even after their maintenance in laboratory for 10 generations. They also found variation in the frequency of heterozygous inversions in different crosses with respect to different inversions. In the present study the observed variation in frequency of heterozygous inversions may be because of in the original population (firs't flush cycle) individuals might have carried the inversion in homozygous and heterozygous state due to initiation of bottleneck heterozygosity must have appeared.
Effect of size bottlenecks on competition could be understood by studying their adaptedness (producti vity and population size) during intra- and interspecific competition . The adaptedness of a genotype or a group of genotypes can be measured by utilizing two parameters, viz. productivity and population size in experimental populations t9. Adaptedness refers to the ability of the carriers of a genotype or a group of genotypes to survive and reproduce in a given environmene l
. In the present study the distinction between control and bottleneck lines, is difficult task and therefore direct competition studies between control and bottleneck lines may not be precisely rewarding. Hence, the investigation on the adult competition between control line and D.n.nasuta as much as competition, between bottleneck lines and D.n.nasuta have been made indirectly 'to assess the competition between control and bottleneck lines on one hand and between two sympatric species on the other hand. The authors have estimated the adaptedness of control and bottleneck lines of D.malerkotliana and D.n.nasuta both under pure and mixed cultures. Productivity is the extent of its reproductive potential measured in tem1S of new born flies every week. So it is sum total of various components of life cycle such as fecundity , hatchability, rate of development, viability, longevity and sexual activity of the adults. These factors along with the survivorship of adult determines the population size. In the present study in both monomorphic and polymorphic populations adaptedness of bottleneck lines was lower than their respective control line under both pure and mixed cultures. Further, productivity and population size of D.nasuta nasuta under. intra specific competition was lower than that of control and bottleneck lines of both monomorphic and polymorphic populations. The higher productivity and population size of control line was due to its higher fecundity, viability and fertility (Hegde & Krishna, unpub-
HEGDE & KRISHNA: INTRA & INTER SPECIFIC COMPETITION IN DROSOPHILA 363
Iished data) coupled with faster exploitation of the environment. The population having higher productivity was also having higher population size (Table 2).
The populations which maintain a larger population size may be said to be performing better from the biological point of view than the one having a small population size . Hence, providing means for comparing the overall biological performance of one population with aI1other, where both are maintai ned under similar environmental cond itions. In the present study control line had higher productivity and population size than bo ttleneck lines and D. nasuta nasuta . Hence, control line perfomled better than the bottleneck lines and D.nasuta nasuta. This agrees with the work of Bueno et al. 16 who 'while studying the effect of periodic bottlenecks on the competitive ability of Dpseudoobscura lines found that derived population (bottleneck line) performed worse than the ancestral control ones in competition experiments . Furthermore, they also found that the average number of individuals at the end of the competition was hi gher in ancestral lines than in the derived ones. Based on the adaptedness (productivity and population size) of control , bott leneck lines and D.nasuta nasuta under study, the relative fitness sequence of control , bottleneck line and D. nasuta nasuta under pure culture (intraspeci fic competition) was CL>8P>4P> I P> D. nasl/Ia nasuta in monomorphic populations while in polymorphic populations the relative fitnes s sequence was CL> I P>4P>8P> D.nasula nasula .
In interspecific competition the adaptedness of one species to the other in a particu lar envi ronment can be assessed by their high productivity and population size . In the present study adaptedness of control and bottleneck lines under mi xed culture (interspecific competition ) reveal that among the control and bottleneck hnes, con trol line having higher productivity and popula tion s ize than bott leneck lines of monomorphic and pol ymorphic populations. Hence control line is superior to the other bottleneck lines. On the other hand , among the bottleneck lines single pair bottleneck li ne of monomorphic population and eight pair bottleneck iine of po lymorphic population had the lowest productivi ty and population size is considered to be inferior in its competiti ve abi li ty (Table 2) . Si ngle pair bottleneck line of monomorphic popula-
tion showed decreased competitive ability by having lower productivity and population size than control line and other bottleneck lines . This decreased competitive ability of si ngle pair bottleneck line may be attributed to two reasons(i) it may be due to inbreeding depression(ii) it may be due to more complex effect of founder event. In polymorphic population single pair bottleneck line had relatively higher competiti ve ability than other bottleneck lines (Table 2).
Apart from the increase in the productivity and population size of control line, it is quite interesting to note that control line of both monomorphic and polymorphic populations eliminated D.nasuta nasuta quite earlier than the bottleneck lines under mixed culture . Bottleneck lines took more time to eliminate D.nasuta nasula in interspecific competition of both monomorphic and po lymorphic populations (Fig. 1) . By considering all these factors , the authors opine that control line is superior in having producti vity, larger population size, and quicker eliminating capac ity than bottleneck lines. D.nasuta nasuta is an inferior competitor having the lower productivity and population size (Table 1) and hence gets eliminated during competition (Fig . 1) . This confirms the concept of competitive exclusionn which states that two species competing for the same and limited resources cannot coexist in the same loca lity, and one or the other species wil l be eliminated sooner or later. The Gause concept has been tested by various workers and in each instance one of the competing species was eliminated eventually23.24. Further, the observed duration for control and bottleneck lines to eliminate D.nasuta nasuta also support the Gause principle . The competiti ve ab ility is the sum total of numerous fac tors that in exceedingly complex way2~ . So the
competitive potentialities of control line and bottleneck lines change, and it is a reflection of the competitive interac tions o f the control and bottleneck lines concerned . So pure and mixed cultures of control and bottleneck lines wi th D.nasuta nasula represent two types of competition and hence thei r abiliti es must be assessed 111 both the situations to get an idea of their competiti ve fitness.
The surviva l and dominance of a species depends both on its inter and intra specific competi tive ab ili ties. Of these, the authors opine that interspecific competitive fitne ss IS a major issue which regulates the structure and composition of the populations. The species/popul ation with better interspecific competi -
364 INDIAN J EXP BlOL, APRIL 1999
ti ve potenti alities can not only increase its numbers but al so can cause a reduction in the size of its competiti on and thus it can enshine the adaptive competi ti ons and integrity of its populations. This is true in the present study al so (Tabl e 2), the evaluation of adaptedness (producti vity and population si ze) revea ls that fitness seq uenc · of control and bottleneck lines during interspec ifi c competition was CL> IP> 4P>8P in monomorphi c populations, CL>8P>4P> I P in polymorphi c populatIOns. These studies thus suggest the crfect of bottl enecks on competition.
Acknowledgement The aut hors are gra teful to Chairman , Department
of Studi es in Zoo logy, University of Mysore for facil ities and UGc, ew Delhi f'or fin ancia l assi stance.
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