La adaptación local y plasiticidad fenotipica de hormigas termófilas (LAPP)
Local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity in thermophylous ants (LAPP)
Principal investigator
Xim Cerdá
Financial institution
CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) - CSIC
Fecha de inicio
Fecha de fin
Code
PIC2014FR3
Researchers
Angulo, Elena;Raphaël Boulay (Institut de Recherches sur la Biologie de l’Insecte, France)
Brief description
Local adaptation and phenotypic plasticity are important phenomena shaping biodiversity. They allow understanding the response of organisms to modifications of their habitat like human-induced global warming. Cataglyphis is an ant genus composed of thermophylous species distributed in paleactic hot and arid environment. In this 3-year project we propose to analyse various aspects of adaptation and thermotolerance of the ant Cataglyphis velox, a species that is present along major altitudinal gradients in Southern Spain, from the sea level to 2500 m élévation, and is therefore submitted to heterogenous thermic selection pressure. Namely, we will ask 1) what morphological, physiological and behavioural traits vary between 4 populations located at approximately 0, 500, 1000 and 2000 m elevation on the southern slope of Sierra Nevada? 2) does rearing temperature affect the expression of the above-mentioned traits and termoresistance? 3) what is the level of gene flow between populations?