Phenotypic plasticity, heritability, and genotype-by-environment interactions in an insect dispersal polymorphism

Evolutionary fitness is determined by the match between an organism’s phenotype and its local environment. When mismatched, individuals may disperse to more suitable habitats. For flightless insects, however, the range of dispersal is typically limited. Numerous flightless species have, therefore, evolved a dispersal dimorphism, that is, some individuals in otherwise short-winged populations develop long wings. Wing development may be genetically or environmentally determined, but these two drivers have rarely been analysed together.
We studied the inheritance and density-dependent plasticity in the dispersal dimorphism of the meadow grasshopper Pseudochorthippus parallelus. Using a full-sib half-sib breeding design, we found that the development of long wings strongly depends on rearing density, with tactile stimulation being the most likely proximate cause. Additionally, we found heritable variation in the development of long wings, both in the propensity to produce long wings and in ...,
Parental generation

We set up a full-sib half-sib breeding design with meadow grasshoppers Pseudochorthippus parallelus. Parental individuals were caught from the field in the surroundings of Jena (50.94°N, 11.61°E) in June and July 2021. Only nymphal females were caught to ensure virginity. Males were mostly caught as nymphs, but a few adult males were also sampled. All parental individuals were short-winged, except for two long-winged males (0.8% of all parents). Parental individuals were housed in the laboratory in same-sex cages until maturity. A total of 172 mature females were then assigned to individual mating cages (22 x 16 x 16 cm), where they were maintained with freshly cut grass potted in small vials filled with water and a water tube for moisture. Grass pots were replaced three times per week. A small pot containing a 50:50 vermiculite-sand mixture was provided for egg deposition. A total of 68 males were mated to 1-4 females each by moving males every 2-3 days between ma..., , # Phenotypic plasticity, heritability, and genotype-by-environment interactions in an insect dispersal polymorphism

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.18931zd4t](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.18931zd4t)

## Description of the data and file structure

We used a full-sib half-sib breeding design to assess the heritability and the phenotypic plasticity of the wing dimorphism of the meadow grasshopper *Pseudochorthippus parallelus*. We found that the development of long wings strongly depends on rearing density. Additionally, we found significant heritable variation in the development of long wings.

Code version: R version 4.2.2

**Overview of files:**

\- **WingLength_ParentsData_240405.txt** = data relative to the generation used as parents in our full-sib half-sib breeding design.

Column names:

CageID = a single identifying code for each cage housing a mating pair

FemaleID = a single identifying code for each female (Uxxx: from generation U, xxx being the single identifying code with xx...,