Collaborative Research: The Evolution of Genetic Structure in Species-Specific Plant-Insect Relationships: The Relative Importance of Biogeographical and Coevolutionary Processes

个体物种的进化并不是独立于与有机体的相互作用。事实上，共同进化，即物种之间随着时间的推移相互作用而产生的互惠进化，越来越被视为组织地球生物多样性的主要过程之一。共同进化的地理镶嵌理论指出，这种共同进化的相互作用在空间和时间上都是高度动态的。相关的理论模型还表明，一个物种内种群间基因交换的地理模式(基因流)在相互作用的物种之间相似(对称)的程度影响局部和全球共同进化模式。拟议的研究有两个主要目标。首先，它将利用统计遗传学和图形建模方面的最新进展，开发新的分析方法，以获得物种内基因流动的地理清晰摘要，并测试物种间基因流动的对称性。其次，它将使用这些程序，使用模型植物-传粉者和植物-食草动物系统来测试互惠(互惠)和拮抗(寄主-寄生)关系中基因流对称性的预测差异。因此，这项研究融合了理论和经验方法，以获得对互惠与寄主-寄生系统中基因流动动力学的根本差异的重要洞察，这些差异可能影响植物-昆虫关系中共同适应的地理模式。该项目的更广泛影响包括对本科生和研究生的教育和培训，以及涉及高中理科教师的新的外联活动和实习。

The evolution of individual species is not independent of interactions with organisms. Indeed, coevolution, reciprocal evolution resulting from interactions between species over time, is increasingly being viewed as one of the major processes organizing the earth's biodiversity. The geographic mosaic theory of coevolution states that such coevolutionary interactions are highly dynamic in space and time. Associated theoretical models also indicate that the degree to which geographical patterns of inter-population gene exchange within a species (gene flow) are similar (symmetrical) between interacting species influences both local and global coevolutionary patterns. The proposed research has two primary objectives. First, it will utilize recent advances in statistical genetics and graphical modeling to develop new analytical procedures for obtaining a geographically explicit summary of gene flow within a species and for testing the symmetry of gene flow between species. Second, it will use these procedures to test predicted differences in the symmetry of gene flow in mutually beneficial (mutualism) and antagonistic (host-parasite) relationships using model plant-pollinator and plant-herbivore systems. This research thus melds theoretical and empirical approaches to gain important insight into fundamental differences in gene flow dynamics in mutualistic versus host-parasite systems, differences that may influence the geographic patterning of coadaptation in plant-insect relationships. Broader impacts of the project include the education and training of undergraduate and graduate students as well as novel outreach activities and internships involving high school science teachers.