The phenotypic plasticity of the aquatic invertebrate Caenis latipennis in response to environmental conditions in the Kheirood Kenar River, Iran

Phenotypic plasticity is the capability of an organism to change its shape in response to the environmental condition. The present study aimed to investigate the phenotypic plasticity of the aquatic invertebrate Caenis latipennis using outline analysis. Samples were collected from up- and downstream of the Kheirood Kenar River, identified to the species level and photographed using a digital camera. Several landmarks were put on the specimens’ pictures to form an outline using the software TpsDig2. The data were analyzed using the package Momocs in the R. Four Fourier coefficients were extracted and analyzed using principal component analysis to examine the PC scores from the specimens of the two sampling stations. A further MANOVA detected a significant difference between harmonics of outlines from the two sampling stations. The present study indicated that the aquatic invertebrate C. latipennis show phenotypic plasticity to the environmental condition and may be used as an indicator of habitat condition.