RUI: The Role of Phenology and its Heritability in Limiting the Use of an Alternate Host Plant

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9981330 AbrahamsonPlants vary in their timing of availability to insects. Often insects can emerge either at the proper time to use one host plant or another, but not both. The role of timing, or phenological, differences in limiting alternate host-plant use by the goldenrod gall fly will be examined. The goals are to determine whether gall-fly emergence time limits the use of an alternate host plant and whether there is potential for evolutionary change in the emergence time of gall flies. In greenhouse and field experiments, plant age and fly emergence time will be manipulated, and insect choice and survival on the normal and alternate host plants will be assayed. Field experiments will reveal whether early emerging flies would have an advantage when using the alternate host. The field emergence times of parents and their offspring will be recorded to determine whether there is genetic control of emergence time. This study of the role of timing in host switching is important because new species may be formed through a shift in the resources used by some members of a species. This mechanism of new species formation may be crucial in many groups of organisms, and knowledge of the processes that form new species is fundamental to understanding patterns of species diversity. Such host shifts may lead to unintended consequences when biological control organisms shift to native plants.