Data from: Experimental evolution under fluctuating thermal conditions does not reproduce patterns of adaptive clinal differentiation in Drosophila melanogaster

Experimental evolution can be a useful tool for testing the impact of environmental factors on adaptive changes in populations, and this approach is being increasingly used to understand the potential for evolutionary responses in populations under changing climates. However in natural populations selective factors will often be more complex than in laboratory environments and produce different patterns of adaptive differentiation. Here we test the ability for laboratory experimental evolution under different temperature cycles to reproduce well-known patterns of clinal variation in Drosophila melanogaster. Six fluctuating thermal regimes mimicking the natural temperature conditions along the east coast of Australia were initiated. Contrary to expectations based on field patterns there was no evidence for adaptation to thermal regimes as reflected by changes in cold and heat resistance following 1-3 years of laboratory natural selection. While laboratory evolution led to changes in starvation resistance, development time and body size, patterns were not consistent with those seen in natural populations. These findings highlight the complexity of factors affecting trait evolution in natural populations and indicate that caution is required when inferring likely evolutionary responses from the outcome of experimental evolution studies.

实验进化（Experimental evolution）可作为检验环境因素对种群适应性变化影响的有效工具，该方法正日益被用于探究气候变化背景下种群产生进化响应的潜力。然而，自然种群中的选择因子往往比实验室环境更为复杂，由此产生的适应性分化模式也有所不同。本研究旨在检验不同温度周期下的实验室实验进化，能否重现黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）已知的渐变变异（clinal variation）模式。研究共设置6种模拟澳大利亚东海岸自然温度条件的波动热环境（fluctuating thermal regimes）。与基于野外观测模式的预期相悖，经过1至3年的实验室自然选择后，并未出现由抗寒性与耐热性变化所反映的热环境适应性迹象。尽管实验室进化引发了抗饥饿性、发育时长与体型大小的改变，但其变化模式与自然种群中观测到的结果并不一致。本研究结果凸显了影响自然种群性状进化的各类因素的复杂性，并提示在基于实验进化研究的结果推断潜在进化响应时需保持谨慎。