Butterfly Study Reveals Traits and Genes Associated with Establishment of New Populations (2 of 2) (IMAGE)
Caption
A Glanville fritillary butterfly. Descendants of "exploratory" butterflies that colonized new habitats differ genetically from their more cautious cousins, a research team led by James Marden, a professor of biology at Penn State University has discovered. The research has revealed some of the genetic bases for faster egg maturation, a higher rate of energy metabolism, and superior flight ability -- traits that provide an advantage to butterflies that stray from familiar territory to found new populations in previously unoccupied habitat patches. The results have potentially broad importance because they show how natural selection may act in species that occupy spatially distinct habitat patches. This research will be published in the print edition of the journal Molecular Ecology in May 2011.
Credit
James Marden, Penn State University
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