RUI: Measuring local adaptation to test the Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution Theory in a three trophic level interaction: a fly, a galler, and a parasitoid

协同进化，即物种的相互进化，被认为是产生生物多样性的主要过程之一。不同地理区域的相互作用的物种可以相互协同进化，导致每个物种在当地适应其他物种的变化。这将产生每个物种的遗传分化种群的地理马赛克。生物体的局部适应经常被记录在案，但共同进化对局部适应的贡献一直难以量化。PI将测量在植物、一种特殊的食草性昆虫和一种寄生该昆虫的黄蜂之间产生局部适应的协同进化的作用。研究这一密切相互作用的物种群体将是在生态群落层面上理解共同进化的第一步。这些物种中的每一个都显示出局部适应的证据，但共同进化在产生这种适应中的作用尚未确定。为了衡量共同进化，PI将在具有不同环境的三个地点之间相互移植每个物种的种群，以创建三个物种的当地种群的所有可能组合。通过衡量每个物种的生存和繁殖，他们将量化共同进化和其他环境因素对当地适应的相对贡献。这一结果将对农业、林业和保护工作产生影响，因为人口迁移到新的地点在所有这些学科中都很常见。这项研究将为一大批本科生提供生态学研究技术方面的培训。

Coevolution, the reciprocal evolution of species, is hypothesized to be one of the major processes producing biological diversity. Interacting species in different geographic areas can coevolve with each other resulting in each species becoming locally adapted to variation in the other species. This will produce a geographic mosaic of genetically differentiated populations of each species. Local adaptation of organisms has frequently been documented, but the contribution of coevolution to local adaptation has been difficult to quantify. The PIs will measure the role of coevolution in producing local adaptation among a plant, a specialized herbivorous insect, and a wasp that parasitizes that insect. Studying this tightly interacting group of species will be the first step towards understanding coevolution at the level of the ecological community. Each of these species shows evidence of local adaptation, but the role of coevolution in producing this adaptation has not been determined. To measure coevolution the PIs will reciprocally transplant populations of each species among three sites with different environments to create all possible combinations of the local populations of the three species. By measuring the survival and reproduction of each species they will quantify the relative contribution of coevolution and other environmental factors to local adaptation. The results will have implications for agriculture, forestry, and conservation efforts because movement of populations to new locations is common in all these disciplines. The research will provide training for a large number of undergraduates in ecological research techniques.