Genetic divergence in M. Vetukhiv's experimental populations ofDrosophila pseudoobscura3. Divergence in Body Size

Abstract

1. Six initially identical populations ofDrosophila pseudoobscurahave been maintained in population cages for 7 years. Two populations have been kept at 16°C, two at 25°C, and two at 27°C.2. One and a half years after the start, there was no significant genetic divergence in body size among the populations. When the populations were about 6 years old, a striking genetic divergence in body size was found. The genetic difference between the populations having the smallest and the largest mean sizes is over half the total phenotypic change in size between the two extreme temperatures at which the populations were kept. The populations kept at the lower temperature have genetically larger flies than the populations kept at the higher temperatures.3. Accompanying the changes in body size were changes in the time of develop ment from egg to adult, the faster developers being the larger flies.4. The F₁hybrids from crossses between Vetukhiv's populations showed non-additivity of the genes for body size, the F₁'s in most cases being significantly larger than the midparent. There was no change in variability of body size in the F₁or F₂hybrids.5. The temperature-directed selection for body size found in Vetukhiv's experimental populations may well be similar in kind to that which has produced temperature-oriented geographic gradients for body size in natural populations of several species ofDrosophila.