Biology of insect galls, ecology of inhabitants, gall anatomy and development

虫瘿是植物上的非典型器官样生长物，由特化昆虫引起，这些昆虫已经进化出控制植物生长的能力，以使昆虫受益。只有昆虫在这种联合中获益，因为它们被厚厚的细胞层包围，这些细胞提供食物和庇护所。几种昆虫诱导植物虫瘿作为其生活史策略的一部分，但最常见和最多样化的是蠓和瘿蜂。大多数瘿蜂攻击橡树和野玫瑰，每一种都引起结构上不同的瘿。Diplolepis属的黄蜂仅限于在野玫瑰上诱导虫瘿。世界上约有42种双鳞属，加拿大有13种，其虫瘿大小不等，从叶子上的豌豆状结构到茎上高尔夫球大小的大虫瘿。研究虫瘿的解剖和发育为理解植物如何控制自身发育提供了一种新的工具。虫瘿代表离散的微栖息地，支持封闭的社区的专业居民和方便，虫瘿可以收集，他们的居住者观察和计数，并推断它们之间的相互作用，使他们有用的研究系统，从人口动态的主题领域，从动物群落的进化和动物地理学。研究从加拿大南部到西北地区和北方安大略的树木线的瘿群落，可以深入了解植物群和动物群在冰川作用后如何进入加拿大。它们还提供了一个研究全球变暖如何使玫瑰和与之相关的虫瘿进一步向北移动的机会。在加拿大东部、美国和欧洲，一些家养玫瑰，如玫瑰，已经成为杂草，在安大略发现的两种Diplolepis galler被认为是它们的生物控制剂。

Galls are atypical, organ-like growths on plants caused by specialized insects that have evolved the ability to control the growth of plants to the insect's advantage. Only the insects gain in the association as they are surrounded by thick layers of cells that provide food and shelter. Several kinds of insects induce plant galls as part of their life history strategies, but the most common and diverse are midges and gall wasps. Most gall wasps attack oaks and wild roses and each species induces a structurally distinct gall. Wasps of the genus Diplolepis are restricted to inducing galls on wild roses. There are about 42 species of Diplolepis in the world and 13 in Canada with galls that vary in size from small pea-like structures on leaves to large swellings the size of golf balls on stems. Studying the anatomy and development of galls provides a novel tool for understanding how plants control their own development. Galls represent discrete microhabitats that support closed communities of specialist inhabitants and the ease by which galls can be collected, their occupants observed and counted, and the interactions among them inferred, make them useful study systems in subject areas ranging from population dynamics to the evolution and zoogeography of animal communities. Studying gall communities from southern Canada to the tree line in the NWT and northern Ontario provides insight into how flora and fauna moved into Canada following glaciation. They also provide an opportunity to study how global warming is allowing both roses and the gall insects associated with them to move further northward. Some domestic roses, such as Rosa rugosa, have become weeds in eastern Canada, the USA, and Europe, and two of the Diplolepis gallers found in Ontario are being considered as agents for their biological control.