The effects of limited nutrient availability on the rate of development, body length, and intensity of eye pigmentation in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

Many insects encounter periods of nutritional stress during which they must continue to develop and grow despite limited availability of food. Our study organism, Drosophila melanogaster, commonly known as the fruit fly, must be flexible and responsive during all developmental stages under a wide range of environmental conditions to survive to adulthood. This study used observations, computer programs, and statistical analysis to study their response to chronic nutritional stress in four treatment levels: 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25% nutrient concentration. We focused on the effects that varying degrees of nutrient availability have on Drosophila melanogaster such as: rate of development, body length, and intensity of eye pigmentation. We found that the rate of development and body length did not significantly vary with respect to the nutrient concentration; whereas, the intensity of eye pigmentation decreased with decreasing nutrient concentration. These conclusions were determined from comparing the 95% confidence intervals (C.I.) among the four treatments. For rate of development and body length, the 95% C.I. overlapped which indicated no significant differences. On the other hand, for the intensity of eye pigmentation, the [25%] treatment of the mean eye pigment intensity was 100.182 with an upper range of 108.332. We compared this to the [100%] treatment with a mean intensity of 118.385 and with a lower range of 109.650 and saw that they do not overlap. Moreover, we calculated a t-test value of 2.986, between [25%] and [100%], that was higher than the standard value of 2.009, which showed a significant result. Therefore, these data suggests that organisms may sacrifice less crucial traits, such as eye pigmentation, in order to maintain other metabolic processes such as growth and development.