Abstract：
Size and shape are important determinants of fitness in most living beings. Accordingly, the capacity of the organism to regulate size and shape during growth, containing the effects of developmental disturbances of different origin, is considered a key feature of the developmental system. In a recent study, through a geometric morphometric analysis on a laboratory-reared sample of the lepidopteran Pieris brassicae, we found evidence of regulatory mechanisms able to restrain size and shape variation, including bilateral fluctuating asymmetry, during larval development. However, the efficacy of the regulatory mechanism under greater environmental variation remains to be explored. Here, based on a field-reared sample of the same species, by adopting identical measurements of size and shape variation, we found that the regulatory mechanisms for containing the effects of developmental disturbances during larval growth in P. brassicae are also effective under more natural environmental conditions. This study may contribute to better characterization of the mechanisms of developmental stability and canalization and their combined effects in the developmental interactions between the organism and its environment.
摘要：
大小和形状是大多数生物健康的重要决定因素。因此，有机体在生长过程中调节大小和形状的能力，包含不同起源的发育障碍的影响，被认为是发展系统的关键特征。在最近的一项研究中,通过对实验室饲养的鳞翅目毛虫样本进行几何形态分析，我们发现了能够抑制大小和形状变化的调节机制的证据，包括双边波动不对称，在幼虫发育过程中。然而,在更大的环境变化下，调节机制的有效性仍有待探索。这里,基于同一物种的野外饲养样本，通过采用相同的尺寸和形状变化测量，我们发现，在更自然的环境条件下，抑制油菜幼虫生长过程中发育障碍影响的调节机制也是有效的。这项研究可能有助于更好地表征发育稳定性和渠化的机制以及它们在生物体与其环境之间的发育相互作用中的综合作用。
