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

9981330亚伯拉罕植物对昆虫的利用时间各不相同。通常，昆虫只能在适当的时候出现，利用一种寄主植物或另一种寄主植物，但不能同时利用两种寄主植物。时间的作用，或物候，差异在限制交替寄主植物利用的菊花瘿蝇将被检查。目的是确定瘿蝇的羽化时间是否限制了替代寄主植物的使用，以及瘿蝇的羽化时间是否有可能发生进化变化。在温室和田间试验中，通过控制植株年龄和蝇的羽化时间，分析昆虫在正常寄主和交替寄主植株上的选择和存活情况。现场实验将揭示早期出现的苍蝇在使用替代宿主时是否具有优势。记录亲本及其后代的田间羽化时间，以确定是否存在羽化时间的遗传控制。这项研究在宿主转换中的作用是重要的，因为新物种可能是通过一个物种的一些成员所使用的资源的转移而形成的。这种新物种形成的机制在许多生物群体中可能是至关重要的，而新物种形成过程的知识是理解物种多样性模式的基础。当生物控制生物转向本地植物时，这种寄主转移可能导致意想不到的后果。

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.