Biology subjects

Brakefield, P. M.

Publications and source records attributed to Brakefield, P. M..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2020

Seasonal environments drive convergent evolution of a faster pace-of-life in tropical butterflies

Global change can trigger shifts in habitat stability and shape the evolution of organismal life-history strategies, with unstable habitats typically favouring a faster pace-of-life. We test this hypothesis in species-rich Mycalesina butterflies that have undergone parallel radiations in Africa, Asia, and Madagascar. First, our ancestral state reconstruction of habitat preference, using ~85% of extant species, revealed that early forest-linked lineages began to invade seasonal savannahs during the Late Miocene-Pliocene. Second, rearing replicate pairs of forest and savannah species from the African and Malagasy radiation in a common garden experiment, and utilising published data from the Asian radiation, demonstrated that savannah species consistently develop faster, have smaller bodies, higher fecundity with an earlier investment in reproduction, and reduced longevity, compared to forest species across all three radiations. We argue that time-constraints for reproduction favoured the evolution of a faster pace-of-life in savannah species that facilitated their persistence in seasonal habitats.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2020

A release from developmental bias accelerates morphological diversification in butterfly eyespots

Development can bias the independent evolution of traits sharing ontogenetic pathways, making certain evolutionary changes less likely. The eyespots commonly found on butterfly wings each have concentric rings of differing colors and these serially repeated pattern elements have been a focus for evo-devo research. In the butterfly family Nymphalidae, eyespots have been shown to function in startling or deflecting predators, and to be involved in sexual selection. Previous work on a model species of Mycalesina butterfly, Bicyclus anynana, has provided insights into the developmental control of the size and color composition of individual eyespots. Experimental evolution has also shown that the relative size of a pair of eyespots on the same wing surface is highly flexible, whereas they are resistant to diverging in color-composition, presumably due to the underlying shared developmental process. This fixed color-composition has been considered as a prime example of developmental bias with significant consequences for wing pattern evolution. Here we test this proposal by surveying eyespots across the whole subtribe of Mycalesina butterflies and demonstrate that developmental bias shapes evolutionary diversification, except in the genus Heteropsis which has gained independent control of eyespot color-composition. Experimental manipulations of pupal wings reveal that the bias has been released through a novel regional response of the wing tissue to a conserved patterning signal. Our study demonstrates that development can bias the evolutionary independence of traits, but it also shows how bias can be released through developmental innovations, thus allowing rapid morphological change, facilitating evolutionary diversification.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Complex multi-trait responses to multivariate environmental cues in a seasonal butterfly

Developmental plasticity in a seasonal environment allows an organism to optimally match its life-history traits with the fluctuating conditions. This critically relies on abiotic and biotic factors, such as temperature or food quality, that act as environmental cues and predict seasonal transitions. In most seasonal environments, multiple factors vary together, making it crucial to understand their combined effects on an organisms phenotype. Here, we study plasticity in a multivariate environment in the butterfly Bicyclus anynana that exhibits two distinct seasonal phenotypes. Temperature is an important cue mediating plasticity in this species, but other environmental cues such as larval host plant quality could also be informative since plant quality deteriorates during the transition from wet to dry season in the field. We examine how temperature and host plant quality interact to affect life-history traits. Using a full-factorial design, we expose cohorts of larvae to either poor (old plants) or high (young plants) quality plants at different temperatures. Our results show that plant quality had a temperature and sex-dependent effect on life-history traits. At lower and intermediate temperatures, it decreased body mass and prolonged development time, indicating that poor plant quality acted as a stressor. However, metabolic rates in adults were not affected, indicating that individuals could, at least in part, compensate for stressful juvenile conditions. In contrast, at higher temperatures poor plant quality induced a partial dry-season phenotype, indicating that it may have acted as an environmental cue. Moreover, poor plant quality, particularly in males, also decreased the correlation between life history traits, signifying disrupted phenotypic integration. Our study reveals complex interactive effects of two environmental variables on seasonal plasticity, reflecting differences in their reliability as seasonal cues. This highlights the importance of studying the combined effects of multiple environmental factors to better understand the regulation of phenotypic plasticity in wild.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2019

To mate, or not to mate: The evolution of reproductive diapause facilitates insect radiation into African savannahs in the Late Miocene

O_LIMany tropical environments experience cyclical seasonal changes, frequently with pronounced wet and dry seasons, leading to a highly uneven temporal distribution of resources. Short-lived animals inhabiting such environments often show season-specific adaptations to cope with alternating selection pressures.\nC_LIO_LIAfrican Bicyclus butterflies show strong seasonal polyphenism in a suite of phenotypic and life-history traits, and their adults are thought to undergo reproductive diapause associated with the lack of available larval host plants during the dry season.\nC_LIO_LIUsing three years of longitudinal field data for three species in Malawi, dissections demonstrated that one forest species reproduces continuously whereas two savannah species undergo reproductive diapause in the dry season, either with or without pre-diapause mating. Using additional data from field-collected and museum samples, we then documented the same three mating strategies for a further 37 species.\nC_LIO_LIPhylogenetic analyses indicated that the ancestral state was a non-diapausing forest species, and that habitat preference and mating strategy evolved in a correlated fashion.\nC_LIO_LIBicyclus butterflies underwent rapid diversification during the Late Miocene, coinciding with expansions into more open savannah habitat. We conclude that the ability to undergo reproductive diapause was a key trait that facilitated colonization and eventual radiation into savannahs in the Late Miocene.\nC_LI

evolutionary biology↗