By Dr. Tim Sandle
March 9, 2025
DIGITAL JOURNAL
A firefighter works to extinguish a wildfire in Keratea, near Athens, on the weekend
A firefighter works to extinguish a wildfire in Keratea, near Athens, on the weekend
- Copyright AFP CLARENS SIFFROY
Differences in genes and brain wiring between forest and desert flies could help explain how climate change impacts insects. Scientists have shown how insect populations, foundational to food chains and pollination, have dramatically declined over the past 20 years due to rapid climate change,
The researchers have identified two ways fly species from different climates (high-altitude forest and hot desert) have adapted to temperature.The findings provide evidence that changes in brain wiring and heat sensitivity contributed to shifting preference to hot or cold conditions, respectively.The results may help predict the impact of ongoing climate change on insect distribution and behavior.
Tiny, cold-blooded animals like flies depend on their environment to regulate body temperature, making them ideal “canaries in the mine” for gauging the impact of climate change on the behavior and distribution of animal species. However, scientists know relatively little about how insect sense and respond to temperature.
Using two species of flies from different climates — one from the cool, high-altitude forests of Northern California, the other hailing from the hot, dry deserts of the Southwest (both cousins of the common laboratory fly, Drosophila melanogaster) — Northwestern University scientists have discovered remarkable differences in the way each processes external temperature.
Using genetic tools, including CRISPR, to knock out certain genes and gene swaps between species, the researchers studied both the molecular and brain mechanisms that may explain species-specific differences in temperature preference.
An interesting outcome is that forest flies showed increased avoidance of heat, potentially explained by higher sensitivity in their antennae’s molecular heat receptors, while desert flies were instead actively attracted to heat, a response that could be tracked to differences in brain wiring in a region of the fly brain that helps compute the valence (inherent attractiveness or aversiveness) of sensory cues.
The scientists now believe these two mechanisms may have accompanied the evolution of each species as it adapted to its distinctive thermal environment, starting from a common ancestor dating back 40 million years (not long after dinosaurs went extinct).
“Insects are especially threatened by climate change,” explains Northwestern neurobiologist Marco Gallio, in a research note. Gallino adds: “Behavior is the first interface between an animal and its environment. Even before the struggle to survive or perish, animals can respond to climate change by migration and by changing their distribution. We are already seeing insect populations declining in many regions, and even insect vectors of disease like the Zika virus and malaria spreading into new areas.”
“The common fruit fly is an especially powerful animal to study how the external world is represented and processed within the brain,” Gallio elucidates. “Many years of work on fly genetics and neuroscience have given us a map of the fly brain more detailed than that of any other animal.”
These findings could help academics to understand how animals evolve the preferences for specific temperature environments and may help predict the impact of a rapidly changing climate on animal behavior and distribution.
The research appears in the journal Nature, titled “Evolution of temperature preference in flies of the genus Drosophila.”
Differences in genes and brain wiring between forest and desert flies could help explain how climate change impacts insects. Scientists have shown how insect populations, foundational to food chains and pollination, have dramatically declined over the past 20 years due to rapid climate change,
The researchers have identified two ways fly species from different climates (high-altitude forest and hot desert) have adapted to temperature.The findings provide evidence that changes in brain wiring and heat sensitivity contributed to shifting preference to hot or cold conditions, respectively.The results may help predict the impact of ongoing climate change on insect distribution and behavior.
Tiny, cold-blooded animals like flies depend on their environment to regulate body temperature, making them ideal “canaries in the mine” for gauging the impact of climate change on the behavior and distribution of animal species. However, scientists know relatively little about how insect sense and respond to temperature.
Using two species of flies from different climates — one from the cool, high-altitude forests of Northern California, the other hailing from the hot, dry deserts of the Southwest (both cousins of the common laboratory fly, Drosophila melanogaster) — Northwestern University scientists have discovered remarkable differences in the way each processes external temperature.
Using genetic tools, including CRISPR, to knock out certain genes and gene swaps between species, the researchers studied both the molecular and brain mechanisms that may explain species-specific differences in temperature preference.
An interesting outcome is that forest flies showed increased avoidance of heat, potentially explained by higher sensitivity in their antennae’s molecular heat receptors, while desert flies were instead actively attracted to heat, a response that could be tracked to differences in brain wiring in a region of the fly brain that helps compute the valence (inherent attractiveness or aversiveness) of sensory cues.
The scientists now believe these two mechanisms may have accompanied the evolution of each species as it adapted to its distinctive thermal environment, starting from a common ancestor dating back 40 million years (not long after dinosaurs went extinct).
“Insects are especially threatened by climate change,” explains Northwestern neurobiologist Marco Gallio, in a research note. Gallino adds: “Behavior is the first interface between an animal and its environment. Even before the struggle to survive or perish, animals can respond to climate change by migration and by changing their distribution. We are already seeing insect populations declining in many regions, and even insect vectors of disease like the Zika virus and malaria spreading into new areas.”
“The common fruit fly is an especially powerful animal to study how the external world is represented and processed within the brain,” Gallio elucidates. “Many years of work on fly genetics and neuroscience have given us a map of the fly brain more detailed than that of any other animal.”
These findings could help academics to understand how animals evolve the preferences for specific temperature environments and may help predict the impact of a rapidly changing climate on animal behavior and distribution.
The research appears in the journal Nature, titled “Evolution of temperature preference in flies of the genus Drosophila.”
No comments:
Post a Comment