Technologies and Human-Robot Collaboration  for Surface EVA Exploration Activities and Training in European Analogue Environments

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The role of history, chance and selection during adaptation : an integrated perspective

Publication . Almeida, Inês; Matos, Margarida Maria Demony de Carneiro Pacheco de, 1958-; Santos, Mauro

Understanding the mechanisms and processes that underlie adaptation and which factors affect the evolutionary potential of populations are central themes in Evolutionary Biology. In this thesis I address the issue of how history, chance and selection can affect the adaptation to new environments, integrating several biological levels. For that I characterized the initial differentiation in the new laboratorial environment of three Drosophila subobscura populations, derived from different locations along the European cline for several phenotypic traits, thermal plasticity, chromosomal inversion frequencies, and the association between chromosomal polymorphism and wing traits – the latter expanded to South American populations. Additionally, for the European populations, I followed their real-time evolutionary trajectories during adaptation to a novel, common environment. The main conclusions are that, though history played a prominent role on the initial performance of several phenotypic traits, fast convergence was observed for both adult phenotypic traits and plastic response to non-optimal temperatures. However, convergence did not occur for chromosomal inversion frequencies, as populations remained differentiated even after forty generations of evolution in the common environment. Nevertheless, some inversions presented similar patterns between foundations indicating that selection acted within the boundaries created by history. On the other hand, chance events shaped the association between inversion polymorphisms and wing traits during the colonizing event of South America. These contrasting patterns between European and South American populations are consistent at the continent level. On the other hand, laboratory evolution changed the association between wing size and inversions for the European populations. Summing-up, this thesis shows that history does not constrain phenotypic adaptive evolution, or the plastic thermal response. It also shows that adaptation to a new environment can be attained through different genetic mechanisms. Finally, it suggests that adaptation to a stable environment does not hamper later response to novel environmental challenges.

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European Commission

Programa de financiamento

FP7

Número da atribuição

607346