Anthropogenic changes in sodium affect neural and muscle development in butterflies.

ABSTRACT: The development of organisms is changing drastically because of anthropogenic changes in once-limited nutrients. Although the importance of changing macronutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, is well-established, it is less clear how anthropogenic changes in micronutrients will affect organismal development, potentially changing dynamics of selection. We use butterflies as a study system to test whether changes in sodium availability due to road salt runoff have significant effects on the development of sodium-limited traits, such as neural and muscle tissue. We first document how road salt runoff can elevate sodium concentrations in the tissue of some plant groups by 1.5-30 times. Using monarch butterflies reared on roadside- and prairie-collected milkweed, we then show that road sa

SUBMITTER: Snell-Rood EC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4104890 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature