Data from: Ontogenetic thermal tolerance and performance of ectotherms at variable temperatures

Early experience and environmental conditions during ontogeny may effect organismal structure, physiology and fitness. Here, we assessed the effect of developmental acclimation to environmental thermal variability on walking speed in Drosophila melanogaster adults. Our results showed a shift in the performance curve to the right. Thus, upper and lower thermal limits exhibited developmental plasticity. Additionally, in constant and variable climatic scenarios, flies shifted to the right the optimum temperature but the maximum performance decreased only in flies reared on high temperatures and high thermal variability. Overall, we showed that environmental cues during ontogeny might help to construct phenotypic variation, which supports the hypothesis of ontogenetic dependence of thermal tolerances.

个体发育过程中的早期经历与环境条件，可影响生物体的形态结构、生理机能与适合度。本研究评估了环境热变异性的发育驯化对黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）成虫行走速度的影响。研究结果显示，其性能曲线发生了右移，由此可见，上下热限均表现出发育可塑性（developmental plasticity）。此外，在恒定与可变气候场景下，果蝇的最适温度均发生了右移，但仅在高温且高热变异性环境中饲养的果蝇，其最大性能出现了下降。综上，本研究证实个体发育阶段的环境信号可促成表型变异，这一结果支持了热耐受具有发育依赖性的假说。