Meeting Abstract

P3.56  Monday, Jan. 6 15:30  Interactions between two cooling mechanisms, color change and behavioral thermoregulation, in Battus philenor caterpillars NIELSEN, ME*; PAPAJ, DR; University of Arizona; University of Arizona nielsenm@email.arizona.edu

When organisms respond to an environmental change via phenotypic plasticity, they can often change several different traits, and the changes in these different traits may interact with each other and affect each other’s expression and function. In Battus philenor (pipevine swallowtail) caterpillars, a change in environmental temperature can be responded to with behavioral thermoregulation, including leaving its host plant, or color change between a black and a red form. Using field enclosures, I have tested how a caterpillar’s color affects its thermoregulatory behavior and vice versa and also how they jointly determine the caterpillar’s temperature and fitness.