A comparison of the cold hardiness of populations of Delia radicum (L.) (Diptera: Anthomyiidae) from southern England and the Canadian Prairies

Abstract

The Canadian population of Delia radicum is more cold hardy than the English population in that the supercooling point is slightly lower and overwintering pupae are less sensitive to lower temperatures and longer exposure times. However, the Canadian population is slightly less cold hardy at higher temperatures within the cold injury zone. Female D. radicum were more susceptible to cold-induced mortality than males among the Canadian population, but this sex difference was not significant in the English population. The proportion of malformed adults and the rate of postdiapause development were not related to cold injury in either population. The bounds of the cold injury zone for species or populations of freezing susceptible, diapausing insects plus the sensitivity of the species to cold injury within this zone can provide an ecologically sound method of describing cold hardiness. Sensitivity, measured by the slope of a regression describing the relationship between survival and the duration of exposure at a low temperature, can also be used to calculate the rate at which cold injury occurs at any temperature within the cold injury zone. This slope may reflect the overwintering conditions of a species or population because Canadian populations of both D. radicum and Mamestra configurata (Noctuidae) have similar coefficients, but these are very different from the coefficient of the English population of D. radicum. The supercooling point did not provide a useful indication of the susceptibility of these cold-hardy diapausing insects to cold injury.