Effects of temperature and maternal and grandmaternal age on wing shape in parthenogenetic Drosophila mercatorum

The effects a stressful developmental temperature and maternal and grandmaternal age was investigated on plasticity of wing shape, using the Procrustes method, in two parthenogenetic strains of Drosophila mercatorum.Shape was significantly modified by both factors. Maternal and grandmaternal age were more important than temperature when compared in terms of larger Mahalanobis distances.Our results suggest that, in populations harbouring low genetic variability, the direct shape changes caused by different developmental temperatures may be smaller than indirect changes mediated through changes in age composition of the maternal and grandmaternal generation.