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First published online November 17, 2006
Journal of Experimental Biology 209, 4690-4700 (2006)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2006
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02563

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Photoperiod-induced plasticity of thermosensitivity and acquired thermotolerance in Locusta migratoria

Corinne I. Rodgers^*, Kelly L. Shoemaker and R. Meldrum Robertson

Department of Biology, Queen's University, Biosciences Complex, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, Canada

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: rodgersc{at}biology.queensu.ca)

Accepted 27 September 2006

The mechanisms by which different life histories affect neural circuits are largely unknown. We show that the thermosensitivity and thermotolerance of neural circuit operation are affected in a complex dynamic fashion by photoperiod, prior heat experience and the sex of the animal. We compared thermosensitivity and thermotolerance of ventilatory motor pattern generation in locusts reared under two photoperiods (12:12 and 16:8; i.e. 12 h:12 h and 16 h:8 h L:D, respectively) before and after heat shock pre-treatment (HS: 3 h, 45°C) in order to determine the effect of daylength on properties of neural function. We monitored central pattern generator (CPG) output electromyographically from muscle 161 in the second abdominal segment during ramped increases in temperature and also measured the time taken for the circuit to fail at high temperatures and the time taken to recover on return to room temperature. There were effects of photoperiod, heat pre-treatment and the sex of the animal on ventilatory rate, time-to-failure and time-to-recovery. The ventilatory motor pattern of 16:8 and 12:12 locusts responded differently to increasing and maintained high temperature stress in both control and heat shocked locusts. We found that 12:12 locusts were generally more robust than 16:8 locusts: they lived longer, they showed greater tolerance to high temperatures, and they recovered more quickly from temperature-induced circuit failure. A faster ventilatory rate in 12:12 animals at high temperatures may have accelerated evaporative cooling to mediate improved temperature tolerance.

Key words: central pattern generator, heat shock, insect, life history, locust, Locusta migratoria, photoperiod, thermosensitivity, thermotolerance, ventilation

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