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Walking speeds were calculated for nine clones of the peach potato aphid Myzus persicae collected from three countries along a latitudinal cline of its European distribution from Sweden to Spain (Sweden, UK and Spain), and the effects of collection origin and intra and intergenerational acclimation were investigated. Walking speeds declined with decreasing temperature, with maximum performance at temperatures closest to acclimation temperature (fastest median walking speed of 5.8 cm min–1 was recorded for clone UK 3, collected from the UK, at 25°C after acclimating to 25°C for one generation). Following acclimation at both 20°C and 25°C, walking ceased (as indicated by median walking speeds of 0.0 cm min–1) at temperatures as high as 7.5°C and 12.5°C. However, acclimation at 10°C enabled mobility to occur to temperatures as low as 0°C. There was no relationship between mobility and latitude of collection, suggesting that large scale mixing of aphids may occur across Europe. However, clonal variation was suggested, with clone UK 3 outperforming the majority of other clones across all temperatures at which mobility was maintained following acclimation at 10°C for one and three generations and at 25°C for one generation. The Scandinavian clones consistently outperformed their temperate and Mediterranean counterparts at the majority of temperatures following acclimation for three generations at 25°C. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Activity thresholds were measured in nine anholocyclic clones of the peach-potato aphid Myzus persicae collected along a latitudinal cline of its European distribution from Sweden to Spain. The effects of collection origin and intra- and intergenerational acclimation on these thresholds were investigated. Low-temperature (10°C) acclimation for one generation depressed the movement threshold and chill coma temperatures, with the largest reduction in movement threshold recorded for clone UK 1 (8.8-2.5°C) and in chill coma for UK 2 (4.8-2.0°C). High-temperature (25°C) acclimation for one generation increased the heat movement threshold and heat coma temperature with the largest increase in the movement threshold (40.1-41.1°C) and heat coma (41.4-42.3°C) recorded for clone Swed 1. There was no further intergenerational acclimation over three generations. High-temperature activity thresholds were less plastic than low-temperature thresholds, and, consequently, thermal activity ranges were expanded following low-temperature acclimation. No constant affect of acclimation was observed on chill coma recovery, although clonal differences were observed with Swed 1 and 3 requiring some of the longest complete recovery times. There was no relationship between latitude and activity thresholds with the exception of heat coma data where Scandinavian clones Swed 2 and 3 consistently displayed some of the lowest heat coma temperatures (e.g. 41.3°C for both clones at 20°C) and Mediterranean clones Span 1, 2 and 3 displayed some of the highest (e.g. 42.1, 41.9 and 42.5°C, respectively, at 20°C). These data suggest that clonal mixing could occur over a large scale across Europe, limiting local adaptation to areas where conditions enable long-term persistence of populations, e.g. adaptation to higher temperatures in the Mediterranean region. It is suggested that aphid thermal tolerance could be governed more by clonal type than the latitudinal origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]