Collaborative Research -- The Role of Mating Signals in Sympatric Speciation: An Integration of Comparative and Experimental Approaches

标题：合作研究-交配信号在同域物种形成中的作用：比较和实验方法的整合。Cocroft和Rafael L.密苏里大学哥伦比亚分校兰迪亨特印第安纳大学东南部植物饲养昆虫构成了地球生物多样性的一大部分。食草昆虫新物种的形成可能发生在没有地理障碍的情况下，以防止不同种群之间的杂交（被认为是物种形成的通常模式）。 在这些条件下，如果行为和生态因素阻止一个种群的个体杂交，新物种就可以形成。这里提出的研究将研究这种模式的多样化（称为同域物种形成）在一组植物饲养的昆虫，Enchenopa binotata物种复合体的树跳。对E. Binotata树跳与其寄主植物的生长周期紧密相连。雌性在夏末在茎内产卵，春季的发育是由植物内部的液体运动引发的。当昆虫在具有不同生长周期的新物种宿主植物上定殖时，新旧宿主上的种群在卵孵化和交配的时间上会有所不同。 这些差异减少了杂交，但这种部分隔离可能不足以使种群发生分化。近年来在E. binotata树跳提示了一个可能完全隔离并导致分化（同域物种形成）的因素。E.比诺塔发生在雄性和雌性之间的二重唱之后。 男性的信号包括一个约1秒长的音调，然后是几个短脉冲。 雌性动物通过与特定雄性动物交替发出自己的反应信号来表示对他的接受。 雄性利用雌性的反应来定位它们，二重唱通常以交配结束。 因此，雌性的反应提供了一个很好的配偶识别的分析。binotata复合体 它还将研究如何殖民一个新的宿主植物可以影响交配通信系统。这种方法将有助于我们理解配偶沟通系统多样性的原因，以及沟通和生物多样性之间的关系。

TITLE: Collaborative Research -- The role of mating signals in sympatric speciation: an integration of comparative and experimental approaches Dr. Reginald B. Cocroft and Dr. Rafael L. RodriguezUniversity of Missouri-ColumbiaDr. Randy HuntUniversity of Indiana-SoutheastPlant-feeding insects constitute a large fraction of the earth's biological diversity. The formation of new species of plant-feeding insects may occur in the absence of geographic barriers to interbreeding between diverging populations (thought to be the usual mode of species formation). Under these conditions, new species can form if behavioral and ecological factors prevent individuals of one population from interbreeding. The research proposed here will examine this mode of diversification (called sympatric speciation) in a group of plant-feeding insects, the Enchenopa binotata species complex of treehoppers. The life cycle of E. binotata treehoppers is tightly linked with the growth cycle of their host plant. Females lay their eggs in late summer inside the stem and development in the spring is triggered by the movement of fluid inside the plant. When insects colonize a novel species of host plant with a different growth cycle, the populations on old and new hosts will differ in the timing of egg hatch and mating. These differences reduce interbreeding, but this partial isolation may not be sufficient for differentiation of the populations to occur. The recent discovery of substrate-borne vibrational mating signals that are transmitted through the plant tissue in E. binotata treehoppers suggests a factor that may complete isolation and lead to divergence (sympatric speciation). Mating in E. binotata occurs after a duet between a male and a female. Male signals consist of a tone about 1 sec long, followed by several short pulses. Females indicate receptivity to a particular male by alternating their own response signals with his. Males use female responses to locate them, and duets typically end in mating. Female responses thus provide an excellent assay of mate recognition.This project will characterize the mating signals, and female preferences for those signals, in the E. binotata complex. It will also examine the ways in which colonizing a new host plant can influence the mate communication system. This approach will help us understand the causes of diversity in mate communication systems, as well as the relationships between communication and biological diversity.