Dissertation Research: Papilio glaucus in Temperate and Subarctic Forests: Host Plant Quality and Temperature Adaptation

燕尾蝴蝶(Papilio Glaucus)是一种特殊的昆虫食草动物，因为它的饮食范围(多食性)和地理分布范围。有证据表明，这是由于青海松种群内和种群间的遗传变异所致。对寄主质量的平行调查也表明了重要的种内变异。将对P.Glaucus在3个地点(密歇根州南部、密歇根州北部和阿拉斯加内陆)遇到的寄主植物阵列进行比较。将使用生物测定比较不同地点之间、地点内寄主物种之间以及寄主物种内树木之间的变异性。7个同域寄主种间全同胞家系的变异性。在3个地点之间相互移植灰飞虱种群将允许同时测试昆虫种群和寄主种群之间的地理分化。总的来说，这些实验测试了昆虫-植物相互作用的稳定性。昆虫和植物物种的平均特征不能很好地预测个体植物和个体昆虫之间相互作用的假设将受到检验。作为对比，灰斑潜蝇在每个地点遇到的非生物环境将被对比，并将测试该昆虫对不同热环境的局部适应。这里调查的昆虫性状的遗传变异模式将提供有关重要生理属性的进化不稳定性的信息，并可能将导致局部适应的环境因素与限制分布的环境因素分开。

A swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus) is an exceptional insect herbivore because of the breadth of its diet (polyphagy) and extent of geographic distribution. Evidence suggests that this is allowed by genetic variability within and among P. glaucus populations. Parallel investigations of host quality have also indicated important intraspecific variability. The array of host plants encountered by P. glaucus at 3 sites (southern Michigan, northern Michigan, and interior Alaska) will be compared. Variablility between sites, between host species within sites, and between trees within host species will be compared using bioassays. Variability of full-sibling families across 7 sympatric host species. Reciprocal transplants of P. glaucus populations among the 3 sites will allow simultaneous tests for geographic differentiation between insect populations and host populations. Collectively, these experiments test the constancy of insect-plant interactions. The hypothesis that average characteristics of the insect and plant species are poor predictors of interactions between individual plants and individual insects will be tested. As a counterpoint, abiotic environments encountered by P. glaucus at each site will be contrasted, and localized adaptation of the insect to different thermal regimes will be tested. Patterns of genetic variability in insect traits surveyed here will provide information about evolutionary lability of important physiological attributes, and may separate environmental factors that lead to local adaptation from those that constrain distributions.