Preliminary Evidence of Cold Temperature Resistance in Drosophila pseudoobscara

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Abstract
Adults, pupae, larvae, and eggs of D. pseudoobscura were exposed to temperatures of 16, 5, -3, and -10oC for periods of 1, 7, and 21 days. Resistance to cold temperature was measured in terms of survival of adults or survival and subsequent development of non-adult stages. The life cycle stages were ranked in terms of decreasing resistance as follows adults > pupae, larvae > eggs. The -3 and -10oC adult survival curves were transformed into probit regression lines for use in future comparisons and planning of selection experiments. No important sexual differences in resistance to cold temperature were observed. Decreases of 10 to 20% in fertility were noted after sub-zero exposures, but these were not analyzed statistically. Exposure in the egg stage to a temperature of 5t also appeared to have an adverse effect on fertility.