Adaptation to abundant low quality food improves the ability to compete for limited rich food in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

The rate of food consumption is a major factor affecting success in scramble competition for a limited amount of easy-to-find food. Accordingly, several studies report positive genetic correlations between larval competitive ability and feeding rate in Drosophila; both become enhanced in populations evolving under larval crowding. Here, we report the experimental evolution of enhanced competitive ability in populations of D. melanogaster previously maintained for 84 generations at low density on an extremely poor larval food. In contrast to previous studies, greater competitive ability was not associated with the evolution of higher feeding rate; if anything, the correlation between the two traits across lines tended to be negative. Thus, enhanced competitive ability may be favored by nutritional stress even when competition is not intense, and competitive ability may be decoupled from the rate of food consumption.

Figure 1. Larval competitive ability and feeding rate of the selected (squares) and control (circles) populations.

(A) Mean competitive index and (B) mean food intake for each regime (bars indicate ± one standard error based on variation among populations). (C) Correlation plot of estimates of the two variables for each replicate population.