Reduced predation risk for melanistic pygmy grasshoppers in post-fire environments.

ABSTRACT: The existence of melanistic (black) color forms in many species represents interesting model systems that have played important roles for our understanding of selective processes, evolution of adaptations, and the maintenance of variation. A recent study reported on rapid evolutionary shifts in frequencies of the melanistic forms in replicated populations of Tetrix subulata pygmy grasshoppers; the incidence of the melanistic form was higher in recently burned areas with backgrounds blackened by fire than in nonburned areas, and it declined over time in postfire environments. Here, we tested the hypothesis that the frequency shifts of the black color variant were driven, at least in part, by changes in the selective regime imposed by visual predators. To study detectability of the melanisti

SUBMITTER: Karpestam E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3488671 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature