Data from: Genetic correlations among developmental and contextual behavioral plasticity in Drosophila melanogaster

Correlations among traits, including behaviors, are important because traits that are genetically correlated may not evolve independently. Recently, behavioral correlations research has expanded to include correlations not only in mean-level behaviors, but also in behavioral plasticity, i.e., the degree to which individuals change their behavior in response to environmental stimuli. Positive correlations among behavioral plasticities would imply that individuals or genotypes that are behaviorally plastic in one way may also be plastic in other ways; negative correlations could imply tradeoffs. Here, we examine aversive odor conditioning (learning) at two time points, and plasticity in pupation site selection behavior across substrates, in a panel of Drosophila genotypes. These behaviors represent different types of behavioral plasticity: contextual plasticity describes behavioral responses to stimuli that are currently present, while developmental plasticity describes behavioral responses to remembered experiences with stimuli in the recent past. We find that learning scores and plasticity in pupation site selection behavior are positively genetically correlated, representing the first example of a genetic correlation between developmental and contextual plasticity. These findings imply that ecological and evolutionary theories focusing on variation in a single dimension of behavioral plasticity may be incomplete.性状（包括行为性状）间的关联至关重要，因为存在遗传关联的性状无法独立演化。近年来，行为关联研究的范畴已拓展至不仅涵盖平均水平行为的关联，还包含行为可塑性（behavioral plasticity）——即个体依据环境刺激调整自身行为的程度。不同行为可塑性间的正相关意味着，在某一维度具备行为可塑性的个体或基因型，在其他维度同样可能具备可塑性；而负相关则提示存在权衡（tradeoff）。本研究针对一组果蝇（Drosophila）基因型，检测了两个时间节点下的厌恶性气味条件反射（学习）情况，以及不同基质条件下化蛹位点选择行为的可塑性。上述两类行为对应两种不同类型的行为可塑性：情境可塑性（contextual plasticity）指个体对当前存在的刺激所做出的行为反应，而发育可塑性（developmental plasticity）则指个体对近期接触过的刺激所产生的记忆性行为反应。研究发现，学习得分与化蛹位点选择行为的可塑性存在正向遗传关联，这是发育可塑性与情境可塑性间存在遗传关联的首个案例。上述研究结果提示，仅聚焦单一维度行为可塑性变异的生态学与演化理论可能并不完备。