Data from: Impacts of environmental variability on desiccation rate, plastic responses and population dynamics of Glossina pallidipes

Physiological responses to transient conditions may result in costly responses with little fitness benefits, and therefore, a trade-off must exist between the speed of response and the duration of exposure to new conditions. Here, using the puparia of an important insect disease vector, Glossina pallidipes, we examine this potential trade-off using a novel combination of an experimental approach and a population dynamics model. Specifically, we explore and dissect the interactions between plastic physiological responses, treatment-duration and -intensity using an experimental approach. We then integrate these experimental results from organismal water-balance data and their plastic responses into a population dynamics model to examine the potential relative fitness effects of simulated transient weather conditions on population growth rates. The results show evidence for the predicted trade-off for plasticity of water loss rate (WLR) and the duration of new environmental conditions. When altered environmental conditions lasted for longer durations, physiological responses could match the new environmental conditions, and this resulted in a lower WLR and lower rates of population decline. At shorter time-scales however, a mismatch between acclimation duration and physiological responses was reflected by reduced overall population growth rates. This may indicate a potential fitness cost due to insufficient time for physiological adjustments to take place. The outcomes of this work therefore suggest plastic water balance responses have both costs and benefits, and these depend on the time-scale and magnitude of variation in environmental conditions. These results are significant for understanding the evolution of plastic physiological responses and changes in population abundance in the context of environmental variability.生物对瞬时环境变化产生的生理响应，往往会产生成本高昂却几乎无适合度收益的反应，因此在响应速度与暴露于新环境条件的时长之间必然存在权衡。本研究以重要昆虫病媒淡足舌蝇（Glossina pallidipes）的蛹为研究对象，采用实验手段与种群动力学模型相结合的创新方法，对这一潜在权衡展开探究。具体而言，我们通过实验手段探究并剖析了可塑性生理响应、处理时长与处理强度三者间的相互作用。随后，我们将有机体水分平衡数据及其可塑性响应的实验结果整合至种群动力学模型中，以探究模拟瞬时气象条件对种群增长率的潜在相对适合度效应。研究结果为水分散失率（Water Loss Rate, WLR）的可塑性与新环境条件持续时长之间的预期权衡提供了证据支持：当改变后的环境条件持续时长较长时，生理响应可匹配新环境，此时水分散失率更低，种群下降速率也更缓慢。然而在较短时间尺度下，驯化时长与生理响应间的不匹配，会通过整体种群增长率的下降体现出来，这或许表明，由于生理调整所需时间不足，存在潜在的适合度成本。因此，本研究结果表明，可塑性水分平衡响应兼具成本与收益，且二者取决于环境变化的时间尺度与幅度。上述研究结果对于理解环境变异背景下可塑性生理响应的演化，以及种群丰度的变化具有重要意义。