Zy. Alsaffar et al., INFLUENCE OF CONSTANT AND CHANGING TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY ON THE DEVELOPMENT AND SURVIVAL OF THE EGGS AND PUPAE OF DROSOPHILA-MELANOGASTER (MEIGEN), Journal of thermal biology, 20(5), 1995, pp. 389-397
1. The mean durations of development in the eggs and pupae of Drosophi
la melangoaster (Meigen) and their survival, were measured at combinat
ions of six constant temperatures and up to eleven levels of vapour pr
essure deficit. 2. Temperature was found to account for from 58 to 98%
of the variation in the mean duration of the development, whereas vap
our pressure deficit (or relative humidity which is the opposite scale
) accounted for from 43 to 91% of the variance in the survival of the
two stages. 3. Vapour pressure deficit was found to be highly positive
ly correlated with the mortalities of both stages, thus relative humid
ity was highly negatively correlated with both stages. 4. No significa
nt extra effect on the development of the egg and pupal stages was evi
dent when they were subjected to two different sets of temperature/hum
idity conditions for 12 h periods each. The present results can be use
d as a basis for modelling the development of these stages under chang
ing conditions of both temperature and humidity.