Data from: Environmental heterogeneity does not affect levels of phenotypic plasticity in natural populations of three Drosophila species

Adaptation of natural populations to variable environmental conditions may occur by changes in trait means and/or in the levels of plasticity. Theory predicts that environmental heterogeneity favors plasticity of adaptive traits. Here we investigated the performance in several traits of three sympatric Drosophila species freshly collected in two environments that differ in the heterogeneity of environmental conditions. Differences in trait means within species were found in several traits, indicating that populations differed in their evolutionary response to the environmental conditions of their origin. Different species showed distinct adaptation with a very different role of plasticity across species for coping with environmental changes. However, geographically distinct populations of the same species generally displayed the same levels of plasticity as induced by fluctuating thermal regimes. This indicates a weak and trait-specific effect of environmental heterogeneity on plasticity. Furthermore, similar levels of plasticity were found in a laboratory-adapted population of Drosophila melanogaster with a common geographic origin but adapted to the laboratory conditions for more than 100 generations. Thus, this study does not confirm theoretical predictions on the degree of adaptive plasticity among populations in relation to environmental heterogeneity but shows a very distinct role of species-specific plasticity.自然种群对多变环境条件的适应，可通过性状均值的改变、或可塑性水平的改变来实现。理论预测，环境异质性会促进适应性性状的可塑性。本研究针对两种环境异质性存在差异的生境中新近采集的3种同域果蝇（Drosophila）物种的多个性状表现展开探究。研究在多个性状中发现了物种内的性状均值差异，表明不同种群对其原生环境的进化响应存在区别。不同物种展现出差异化的适应策略，且各类物种应对环境变化时的可塑性作用差异显著。然而，同一物种的地理分化种群，在波动温度节律诱导下的可塑性水平整体相近。这说明环境异质性对可塑性的影响较弱，且仅针对特定性状。此外，在一个起源于相同地理区域、但已在实验室条件下驯化超过100代的黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）实验室种群中，也观测到了相近的可塑性水平。因此，本研究未证实有关种群间适应性可塑性程度与环境异质性相关性的理论预测，但揭示了物种特异性可塑性所发挥的独特作用。