Dissertation Research: Pleistocene Impacts on the Evolution of Alpine Plant-insect Interactions

更新世对高山植物-昆虫相互作用演化的影响DeChaine、EG和AP Martin抽象群落可以是物种的短暂聚集体，也可以是稳定的，其中成员随着时间的推移而进化。这项研究将推断高山植物-昆虫群落的“开放性”，以及生物和非生物因素对相互作用物种进化的相对影响。落基山脉高山植物群落的历史将通过两个专门的植物群落的比较系统地理学来推断。每个物种的系统发育将根据遗传多态进行构建。系统发育将在专门的植物-昆虫对以及不相关的生物之间进行比较，以推断生物和非生物因素的相对影响。初步分析表明，专门的植物-昆虫对具有共同的历史，遗传多样性的地理结构是由于高山地区历史上的碎片化和冰川后范围的扩大。这项研究将揭示历史上非生物和生物相互作用对高山植物群落-昆虫群落组成的相对重要性。

Pleistocene Impacts on the Evolution of Alpine Plant-Insect InteractionsDeChaine, EG and AP MartinAbstract Communities may be ephemeral aggregations of species or may be stable, wherein members evolve in cohort over time. This study will infer the 'openness' of alpine plant-insect communities and the relative impact of biotic and abiotic factors on the evolution of interacting species. The history of alpine plant-insect communities of the Rocky Mountains will be inferred by comparative phylogeography of two specialized plant-insect associations. Phylogenies for each species will be constructed from genetic polymorphisms. Phylogenies will be compared within specialized plant-insect pairs as well as between unassociated organisms to infer the relative influence of biotic and abiotic factors. Preliminary analysis suggests that specialized plant-insect pairs share a common history and that the geographic structure of genetic diversity is due to historic fragmentation of the alpine followed by post-glacial range expansion. This study will reveal the relative importance of historic abiotic and biotic interactions on the composition of alpine plant-insect communities.