How important is thermal history? Evidence for lasting effects of developmental temperature on upper thermal limits in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

A common practice in thermal biology is to take individuals directly from the field and estimate a range of thermal traits. These estimates are then used in studies aiming to understand broad scale distributional patterns, understanding and predicting the evolution of phenotypic plasticity, and generating predictions for climate change risk. However, the use of field-caught individuals in such studies ignores the fact that many traits are phenotypically plastic and will be influenced by the thermal history of the focal individuals. The current study aims to determine the extent to which estimates of upper thermal limits (CTmax), a frequently used measure for climate change risk, are sensitiv..