Studies on Competition in Plants and Animals, X. Genetic Variability of Migratory Activity in Natural Populations of Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

1) A number of inbred lines derived from four wild strains of D. melanogaster were tested for their general, mass and random-migratory activities. It was found that these wild strains were without exception quite heterogeneous in respect of the three kinds of migratory activities mentioned above.
2) The same wild strains were subjected to a selection experiment for higher general migratory activity. The selection proved to be effective and the selected lines were found to be very active in either mass- or random-migration.
3) The findings described above give an evidence that the migratory activities of Drosophila flies are genetic characters, a good deal of variation of which is concealed in wild populations.