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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Does Adaptation To Harsh Environments Provide Protection Against Parasites?, Arielle Michaelis
Does Adaptation To Harsh Environments Provide Protection Against Parasites?, Arielle Michaelis
Scholars Week
While host-parasite coevolution is generally well studied, much less attention has been paid to how parasite-host relationships are impacted by variation in the abiotic environment. This may be especially important when the host species' range includes both moderate and extreme environments, since the parasite might not be able to tolerate both climates. In such cases, adaptation to extreme environments might be a potential strategy to reduce parasitization. Studies have shown that parasites are more successful in the environment in which they originally coevolved with their host than in an environment with new abiotic stressors. In Washington, snowberry flies infest snowberries …
Variation In Desiccation Resistance Between Different Rhagoletis Zephyria Populations Spanning The Cascade Mountains, Keely Hausken, Neal Shaffer, Jennifer Hill
Variation In Desiccation Resistance Between Different Rhagoletis Zephyria Populations Spanning The Cascade Mountains, Keely Hausken, Neal Shaffer, Jennifer Hill
Scholars Week
Local adaptation to environmental gradients can be an important source of variation that allows populations to evolve in response to environmental challenges. The snowberry maggot fly (Rhagoletis zephyria) is found throughout the different climate regions of Washington state. However, populations vary in their resistance to desiccation as an early pupa. We found that in low humidity treatments, desiccation resistance is predicted by annual precipitation and elevation and is tightly correlated with fly emergence the following season. Our results suggest that the variation in desiccation resistance in of R. zephyria is adaptive. Rhagoletis zephyria hybridizes with the agriculturally important invasive apple …