Venera Tyukmaeva

TL;DR: A distillation of questions about the mechanisms of speciation, the genetic basis of speciating and the relationship between speciation and diversity are presented.

TL;DR: This work studies adaptation to seasonal changes in Drosophila montana by defining the photoperiodic conditions leading to adult reproductive diapause along a latitudinal cline in Finland and measuring genetic differentiation and the amount of gene flow between the sampling sites with microsatellites to show that local adaptation may occur even in the presence of high gene flow.

TL;DR: Variation in the critical day length (CDL) for adult reproductive diapause and the steepness of photoperiodic response curves (PPRCs) in seven clinal populations of Drosophila montana in Finland is documented, paying special attention to variation in these traits within and between cline populations.

TL;DR: Comparing a diversity of climatic data for the studied populations showed that while CDL is under a tight photoperiodic regulation linked with latitude, its length depends also on climatic factors determining the growing season length.

TL;DR: Damping of the photoperiodic timer under prolonged nights and constant darkness fits well with the earlier finding that these flies lose their locomotor activity rhythm in constant darkness, and suggests that the mechanisms underlying females' diapause response and their free-running locom motor activity rhythm may be partly based on same oscillators.