Journal ArticleDOI
Niche explosion
Reads0
Chats0
TLDR
In this paper, the authors hypothesize that extreme polyphagy in these taxa results from "niche explosion", a positive feedback loop connecting large population size to broad host range.Abstract:
The following syndrome of features occurs in several groups of phytophagous insects: (1) wingless females, (2) dispersal by larvae, (3) woody hosts, (4) extreme polyphagy, (5) high abundance, resulting in status as economic pests, (6) invasiveness, and (7) obligate parthenogenesis in some populations. If extreme polyphagy is defined as feeding on 20 or more families of hostplants, this syndrome is found convergently in several species of bagworm moths, tussock moths, root weevils, and 5 families of scale insects. We hypothesize that extreme polyphagy in these taxa results from “niche explosion”, a positive feedback loop connecting large population size to broad host range. The niche explosion has a demographic component (sometimes called the “amplification effect” in studies of pathogens) as well as a population-genetic component, due mainly to the increased effectiveness of natural selection in larger populations. The frequent origins of parthenogenesis in extreme polyphages are, in our interpretation, a consequence of this increased effectiveness of natural selection and consequent reduced importance of sexuality. The niche explosion hypothesis makes detailed predictions about the comparative genomics and population genetics of extreme polyphages and related specialists. It has a number of potentially important implications, including an explanation for the lack of observed trade-offs between generalists and specialists, a re-interpretation of the ecological correlates of parthenogenesis, and a general expectation that Malthusian population explosions may be amplified by Darwinian effects.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Unifying concepts and mechanisms in the specificity of plant–enemy interactions
Luke G. Barrett,Martin Heil +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors summarize patterns and mechanisms in the interactions of plants with these enemies along different axes of specificity and highlight the many dimensions within which plant enemies can specify and consider the underlying ecological, evolutionary and molecular mechanisms.
Journal ArticleDOI
The impact of domestication on resistance to two generalist herbivores across 29 independent domestication events
TL;DR: The results show that domestication can alter plant defenses, but does not cause strong allocation tradeoffs as predicted by plant defense theory.
Journal ArticleDOI
Asexual reproduction in introduced and native populations of the ant Cerapachys biroi
Daniel J. C. Kronauer,Daniel J. C. Kronauer,Daniel J. C. Kronauer,Naomi E. Pierce,Laurent Keller +4 more
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that at least four genetically distinct lineages have been introduced from continental Asia and have led to the species' circumtropical establishment, and that asexual reproduction dominates in the introduced range and is also common in the native range.
Journal ArticleDOI
Large population size predicts the distribution of asexuality in scale insects
TL;DR: A comparative approach is used using scale insects to show that asexuality is indeed more common in species with larger population density and geographic distribution and it is shown that a sexual species tend to be more polyphagous, and discusses the implication of the findings for previously observed patterns of a sexuality in agricultural pests.
Journal ArticleDOI
Evolution and comparative ecology of parthenogenesis in haplodiploid arthropods.
TL;DR: The results strongly suggests that transitions to parthenogenesis are more frequent in large sexual populations and/or that the risk of extinction of parthenogens with large population sizes is reduced.
References
More filters
Book
The Evolution of Sex
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compared the short-term advantages of sex and recombination in a finite population with the long-term consequences of recombination and sex and showed that recombination has shortterm advantages for both sexes.
Book
Sex and evolution.
TL;DR: The relationship between various types of reproduction and the evolutionary process is explored, including the evolutionary development of diverse forms of sexuality, such as anisogamy, hermaphroditism, and the evolution of differences between males and females in reproductive strategy.
Journal ArticleDOI
The relation of recombination to mutational advance.
TL;DR: It is shown that this calculation does not apply for mutant genes that act advantageously only when in some special combinations with one or more other mutant genes, and that as far as these cases of special synergism are concerned recombining lines have no evolutionary advantage over non-recombining ones.
Related Papers (5)
The global distribution of diet breadth in insect herbivores
Matthew L. Forister,Vojtech Novotny,Vojtech Novotny,Anna K. Panorska,Leontine Baje,Yves Basset,Yves Basset,Philip T. Butterill,Philip T. Butterill,Lukas Cizek,Lukas Cizek,Phyllis D. Coley,Phyllis D. Coley,Francesca Dem,Ivone Rezende Diniz,Pavel Drozd,Mark S. Fox,Andrea E. Glassmire,Rebecca F. Hazen,Jan Hrcek,Jan Hrcek,Jan Hrcek,Joshua P. Jahner,Ondrej Kaman,Ondrej Kaman,Tomasz J. Kozubowski,Thomas A. Kursar,Thomas A. Kursar,Owen T. Lewis,John T. Lill,Robert J. Marquis,Scott E. Miller,Helena C. Morais,Masashi Murakami,Herbert Nickel,Nicholas A. Pardikes,Robert E. Ricklefs,Michael S. Singer,Angela M. Smilanich,John O. Stireman,Santiago Villamarín-Cortez,Stepan Vodka,Stepan Vodka,Martin Volf,Martin Volf,David L. Wagner,Thomas R. Walla,George D. Weiblen,Lee A. Dyer +48 more