Parallel host‐plant‐associated differences in an extended phenotype between populations of six species of gall‐forming insects

Zhang, Linyi; Mullin, Briley F.; Shzu, Shih-An; Davis, Charles K.; Hu, Elaine G.; Carroo, Isaac J.; Egan, Scott P.

doi:10.1111/een.13117

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 45 publications

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“…Future studies should apply a similar comparative work to other gall wasp species that also utilized the same set of host plant species Q. virginiana and Q. geminata. If similar divergent phenotypes are observed repeatedly between host-associated populations in other gall wasp species, this would strongly suggest the similar host plant-related environments play a critical role in shaping the divergence among these traits (Egan et al 2013;Zhang et al 2019Zhang et al , 2022.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

A test of trade-offs in dispersal and reproduction within and between a sister species pair of specialist insect herbivores

Roush,

Zhang,

Hood

et al. 2024

Oecologia

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A critical question in understanding the origin of trade-offs and their impact on trait evolution is whether trade-offs between species originate from within-species variation. Despite their importance, studies linking interspeci c divergence between closely related species to intraspeci c trait variation are still rare.In this study, we describe a trade-off between dispersal and reproductive effort between two sympatric sister species of wasps in the genus Belonocnema (Hymenoptera: Cynipini: Cynipidae) that form galls on live oaks: B. fossoria, which specializes on Quercus geminata, and B. treatae, which specializes on Q. virginiana. Speci cally, our results suggest that B. fossoria has evolved reduced ight capability and smaller wings, but a larger abdomen and greater total reproductive effort than B. treatae, which has larger wings and is a stronger ier, but a smaller abdomen and reduced total reproductive effort. Despite these signi cant morphological and reproductive differences, these traits remain unchanged when transplanting B. fossoria and B. treatae onto the alternative host plant, suggesting that divergence in these traits is likely genetic as opposed to a plastic response to the different rearing environments. However, we did not nd evidence of intraspeci c trade-offs between wing length and reproductive traits within either B. fossoria or B. treatae, indicating that trade-offs in life history traits between the two species is a result of independent adaptations in response to different environments. Our study informs our understanding of the evolution of trade-offs among life history traits by examining trade-offs at different biological organizations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

A test of trade-offs in dispersal and reproduction within and between a sister species pair of specialist insect herbivores

Roush,

Zhang,

Hood

et al. 2024

Oecologia

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Network structure and taxonomic composition of tritrophic communities of Fagaceae, cynipid gallwasps and parasitoids in Sichuan, China

Fang,

Tang,

Sinclair

et al. 2024

Insect Conserv Diversity

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A key question in insect community ecology is whether parasitoid assemblages are structured by the food plants of their herbivore hosts. Tritrophic communities centred on oak‐feeding cynipid gallwasps are one of the best‐studied tritrophic insect communities. Previous work suggests that host plant identity is a much stronger predictor of oak–cynipid interactions than of cynipid–parasitoid interactions. However, these relationships have not been formally quantified. We reason that the potential for ‘bottom‐up’ effects should increase with host plant phylogenetic diversity. We, therefore, generated quantified interaction network data for previously unstudied tritrophic cynipid communities in Sichuan, China, where, in addition to Quercus, cynipid host plants include Castanea, Castanopsis and Lithocarpus. We characterise these communities taxonomically and compare the extent to which host plant taxonomy predicts plant–herbivore and plant–parasitoid associations. We sampled 42,620 cynipid galls of 176 morphotypes from 23 host plant species, yielding over 4500 specimens of 64 parasitoid morphospecies. Many parasitoids were identifiable to chalcidoid taxa present in other Holarctic oak cynipid communities, with the addition of Cynipencyrtus (Cynipencyrtidae). As elsewhere, Sichuan parasitoid assemblages were dominated by generalists. Gallwasp–plant interaction networks were significantly more modular than parasitoid–plant association networks. Gallwasps were significantly more specialised to host plants (i.e. had higher mean d' values) than parasitoids. Parasitoid assemblages nevertheless showed significant plant‐associated beta diversity, with a dominant turnover component. We summarise parallels between our study and other Fagaceae‐associated cynipid communities and discuss our findings in light of the processes thought to structure tritrophic interactions centred on endophytic insect herbivores.

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A test of trade-offs in dispersal and reproduction within and between a sister species pair of specialist insect herbivores

Roush

Zhang

Hood

et al. 2023

Preprint

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View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A critical question in understanding the origin of trade-offs and their impact on trait evolution is whether trade-offs between species originate from within-species variation. Despite their importance, studies linking interspecific divergence between closely related species to intraspecific trait variation are still rare. In this study, we describe a trade-off between dispersal and reproductive effort between two sympatric sister species of wasps in the genus Belonocnema (Hymenoptera: Cynipini: Cynipidae) that form galls on live oaks: B. fossoria, which specializes on Quercus geminata, and B. treatae, which specializes on Q. virginiana. Specifically, our results suggest that B. fossoria has evolved reduced flight capability and smaller wings, but a larger abdomen and greater total reproductive effort than B. treatae, which has larger wings and is a stronger flier, but a smaller abdomen and reduced total reproductive effort. Despite these significant morphological and reproductive differences, these traits remain unchanged when transplanting B. fossoria and B. treatae onto the alternative host plant, suggesting that divergence in these traits is likely genetic as opposed to a plastic response to the different rearing environments. However, we did not find evidence of intraspecific trade-offs between wing length and reproductive traits within either B. fossoria or B. treatae, indicating that trade-offs in life history traits between the two species is a result of independent adaptations in response to different environments. Our study informs our understanding of the evolution of trade-offs among life history traits by examining trade-offs at different biological organizations.

show abstract

Parallel host‐plant‐associated differences in an extended phenotype between populations of six species of gall‐forming insects

Cited by 3 publications

References 45 publications

A test of trade-offs in dispersal and reproduction within and between a sister species pair of specialist insect herbivores

A test of trade-offs in dispersal and reproduction within and between a sister species pair of specialist insect herbivores

Network structure and taxonomic composition of tritrophic communities of Fagaceae, cynipid gallwasps and parasitoids in Sichuan, China

A test of trade-offs in dispersal and reproduction within and between a sister species pair of specialist insect herbivores

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