I investigated the genetic basis of the trade-off between early fecundity (measured as ovary weight) and flight capability (measured as flight muscle mass) in two different environments (ad libitum and reduced food treatments) in females of a wing dimorphic cricket, Gryllus firmus. I found that the food environment did not affect the fecundity ratio between the two wing morphs. Consequently, while long wing (LW) females partially histolyse their dorso-longitudinal wing muscles (DLM) it is not enough to compensate for the low food treatment. Genetic parameters were estimated using a half-sib analysis on the LW females. The genetic correlation between the two traits was not different from -1 in both environments. According to the mixed-model ANOVA, the genetic correlation across environments for both traits did not differ from +1. Therefore, the heritability estimates of the pooled ovary weight and the pooled DLM weight were calculated and were significant. These results indicate that fitness resulting from the trade-off between flight capability and fecundity is not affected by varying food conditions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.33764 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Gelinas, Malorie B. |
| Contributors | Roff, Derek (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Biology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001872041, proquestno: MQ78881, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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