Female butterflies modulate investment in reproduction and flight in response to monsoon-driven migrations

Migratory species may display striking phenotypic plasticity during individual lifetimes. This may include differential investment in body parts and functions, differential resource use and allocation, and behavioural changes between migratory and non-migratory phases. While migration-related phenotypic changes are well-reported, their underlying mechanisms are usually poorly understood. Here we compare individuals from migratory (reproductive diapause) and non-migratory (reproductive) phases of closely related aposematic butterfly species to study how sexual dimorphism and migratory behaviour underlie significant morphological tradeoffs, and propose a plausible scenario to explain the migration-related phenotypic plasticity observed in females of migratory species. We found that female butterflies invested significantly more in their abdominal mass compared to males irrespective of their migratory phase, and underwent a clear shift in their body mass allocation after the switch from th...迁徙物种在个体生命周期中可展现出显著的表型可塑性。此类可塑性可体现为对身体各部位与功能的差异化投入、资源利用及分配模式的差异，以及迁徙与非迁徙阶段间的行为变化。尽管与迁徙相关的表型变化已有广泛报道，但其潜在机制通常仍未被充分阐明。本研究选取亲缘关系相近的警戒色蝴蝶物种，比较其迁徙（生殖滞育）与非迁徙（生殖）阶段的个体，以探究性二型性与迁徙行为如何构成显著的形态权衡，并提出合理假说以解释迁徙物种雌性个体中观察到的迁徙相关表型可塑性。研究发现，无论处于何种迁徙阶段，雌性蝴蝶的腹部质量投入均显著高于雄性，且在从……转换后，其身体质量分配发生了显著变化