Study on fitness of Drosophila melanogaster in different light regimes

Abstract

Many aspects of the life cycle in Drosophila are known to be either under circadian control or affected by the circadian clock. The present investigations were made to understand whether changes in the rhythm can affect fitness of Drosophila melanogaster. Fitness such as fecundity, male lifetime fertility, female lifetime fertility, male longevity, and female longevity was assessed in light/dark (LD), continuous light (LL), and continuous dark (DD) for 15th and 30th generations. D. melanogaster showed greater fitness in LD than the other two light regimes. This might be due to failure to synchronize the reproductive events properly in LL and DD. LL and DD regimes might have created a stressful environment for Drosophila which has been observed by the reduction in the reproductive success of the individuals. Longevity was more in LD and DD when compared to LL. This shows that D. melanogaster is more adaptive to a LD regime than the other two groups.

Keywords:

• circadian clock
• rhythm
• fitness
• environment
• adaptive

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the RFSMS Scheme University Grant Commission, New Delhi and DOS in Zoology, University of Mysore for the facility.