Collaborative Research: Diapause Energetics in the Apple Maggot Rhagoletis Pomonella: a Functional Link between Life History Evolution and Insect-host Plant Associations.

虫害每年给全球农作物造成数十亿美元的损失。随着农业的不断全球化，农作物经常被引入新的地点，在那里它们将接触到新的害虫，而害虫经常被不经意地引入到与新作物接触的新地区。因此，一个关键的问题是，是什么因素促进或阻止昆虫在一种新的植物上定居？苹果蝇(Rhagoltis Pomonella)是了解以植物为食的昆虫如何转移到新宿主上的一个模型系统。这些蚯蚓原产于北美，历史上以山楂树的果实为食。然而，大约350年前，英国和荷兰的定居者将驯化的苹果引入美国东北部后，波蒙氏菌开始以苹果果实为食，成为驯化苹果的主要害虫。在苹果和山楂同时生长的地区，这两种植物在夏天会在不同的时间结果实。在果实上产卵的成虫寿命很短。这导致了苹果和山棘果蝇发生时间的分离，这是波蒙氏杆菌成为苹果害虫的关键。关于这种苍蝇的生活史时机和转移到苹果上的遗传学知道得很多，但对促进这种转移的生理特征知之甚少。这个项目将研究生活史计时的生理学，并确定三个关键的生理特征，即脂肪储存、代谢率和身体大小，是否在苹果蝇和山楂蝇之间存在差异，并确定它们是否与特定的遗传标记有关，这些标记与生活史计时的差异有关。这项工作将首次综合植物食性昆虫的生理学、遗传学和生活史计时，并将为理解生理学如何影响生活史计时以及促进或阻止昆虫和植物之间的新的相互作用奠定基础，这是进化生物学和农业的关键问题。私人投资机构在教育推广和培训方面有很好的记录，包括传统上代表性不足的群体。该项目将包括博士后、研究生和本科生的培训。将气候生理与昆虫寄主小种的形成联系起来，将为了解寄主范围的变化和气候变化导致的未来害虫问题提供重要信息。

Insect pests cause billions of dollars of damage to crop plants world-wide each year. With the continuing globalization of agriculture, crops are routinely introduced into new locations where they will come into contact with novel insect pests, and insect pests are frequently inadvertently introduced to new areas where they come into contact with novel crops. Therefore, a critical question is what are the factors that facilitate or prevent insects from becoming established on a novel plant? The apple maggot fly, Rhagoletis pomonella, is a model system for understanding how plant-feeding insects can move onto new hosts. These maggots are native to North America and historically fed on the fruits of hawthorn trees. However, after domesticated apples were introduced into the northeastern United States approximately 350 years ago by English and Dutch settlers, R. pomonella began feeding on apple fruits and has become a significant pest of domesticated apples. In areas where apples and hawthorns occur together, the two plants produce fruit at different times during the summer. The adult flies, which lay their eggs on the fruit, are short lived. This has lead to a separation in the timing of occurrence of the apple and hawthorn flies, which was critical for R. pomonella to become a pest of apples. Much is known about the genetics of life history timing and the shift onto apples in this fly, but little is known about the physiological traits that have facilitated the shift. This project will investigate the physiology of life history timing and determine if three critical physiological traits, fat storage, metabolic rate, and body size, differ between the apple and hawthorn flies, and determine if they are linked to specific genetic markers that are associated with differences in life history timing. This work will provide the first synthesis of physiology, genetics, and life history timing in a plant-feeding insect and will serve as a foundation for understanding how physiology may affect life history timing and either facilitate or prevent novel interactions between insects and plants, a critical question for both evolutionary biology and agriculture. The PIs have a strong record in educational outreach and training, including traditionally underrepresented groups. This project will include training of postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students. Linking climate related physiology to insect host race formation will provide important information for understanding host range change and future pest problems as a consequence of climate variation.