Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons^™

Mitochondrial Phylogenomics Of Hemiptera Reveals Adaptive Innovations Driving The Diversification Of True Bugs, Hu Li, John Moeller Leavengood Jr., Eric G. Chapman, Daniel Burkhardt, Fan Song, Pei Jiang, Jinpeng Liu, Xuguo Zhou, Wanzhi Cai

Entomology Faculty Publications

Hemiptera, the largest non-holometabolous order of insects, represents approximately 7% of metazoan diversity. With extraordinary life histories and highly specialized morphological adaptations, hemipterans have exploited diverse habitats and food sources through approximately 300 Myr of evolution. To elucidate the phylogeny and evolutionary history of Hemiptera, we carried out the most comprehensive mitogenomics analysis on the richest taxon sampling to date covering all the suborders and infraorders, including 34 newly sequenced and 94 published mitogenomes. With optimized branch length and sequence heterogeneity, Bayesian analyses using a site-heterogeneous mixture model resolved the higher-level hemipteran phylogeny as (Sternorrhyncha, (Auchenorrhyncha, (Coleorrhyncha, Heteroptera))). Ancestral character …

Natural Enemies Partially Compensate For Warming Induced Excess Herbivory In An Organic Growth System, Orsolya Beleznai, Jamin Dreyer, Zoltán Tóth, Ferenc Samu

Entomology Faculty Publications

Predators can limit prey abundance and/or levels of activity. The magnitudes of these effects are contingent on predator and prey traits that may change with environmental conditions. Aberrant thermal regimes could disrupt pest suppression through asymmetric effects, e.g. heat-sensitive predator vs. heat-tolerant prey. To explore potential effects of warming on suppressing pests and controlling herbivory in a vegetable crop, we performed laboratory experiments exposing an important pest species to two spider predator species at different temperatures. Heat tolerance was characterised by the critical thermal maxima parameter (CTM50) of the cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata), wolf spider (Tigrosa helluo …

Life-Shortening Wolbachia Infection Reduces Population Growth Of Aedes Aegypti, Eunho Suh, David R. Mercer, Stephen L. Dobson

Entomology Faculty Publications

Wolbachia bacteria are being introduced into natural populations of vector mosquitoes, with the goal of reducing the transmission of human diseases such as Zika and dengue fever. The successful establishment of Wolbachia infection is largely dependent on the effects of Wolbachia infection to host fitness, but the effects of Wolbachia infection on the individual life-history traits of immature mosquitoes can vary. Here, the effects of life-shortening Wolbachia (wMelPop) on population growth of infected individuals were evaluated by measuring larval survival, developmental time and adult size of Aedes aegypti in intra- (infected or uninfected only) and inter-group (mixed with …

A Window Of Opportunity: Subdominant Predators Can Use Suboptimal Prey, Kelly A. Jackson, Joshua S. Mccord, Jennifer A. White

Entomology Faculty Publications

Introduced species have been linked to declines of native species through mechanisms including intraguild predation and exploitative competition. However, coexistence among species may be promoted by niche partitioning if native species can use resources that the invasive species cannot. Previous research has shown that some strains of the aphid Aphis craccivora are toxic to a competitively dominant invasive lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis. Our objective was to investigate whether these aphids might be an exploitable resource for other, subdominant, lady beetle species. We compared larval development rate, survival, and adult weight of five lady beetle species in no-choice experiments with …

Social Buffering In A Eusocial Invertebrate: Termite Soldiers Reduce The Lethal Impact Of Competitor Cues On Workers, Li Tian, Evan L. Preisser, Kenneth F. Haynes, Xuguo Zhou

Entomology Faculty Publications

While the impact of predator‐induced stress on prey has received considerable attention, there has been far less research into the effect of competitors. Cues from aggressive competitors should be particularly likely to evoke behavioral and/or physiological responses, since they may be indicative of both direct (interference) and indirect (exploitative) threats. The danger posed by such competitors, and the “fear” they evoke, should be reduced at lower competitor densities and by the presence of individual conspecifics specialized for defense. We assessed how Reticulitermes flavipes termite workers and soldiers were affected by cues from conspecific nestmates, conspecific non‐nestmates, and the heterospecific competitor …

Recruitment Of Reviewers Is Becoming Harder At Some Journals: A Test Of The Influence Of Reviewer Fatigue At Six Journals In Ecology And Evolution, Charles W. Fox, Arianne Y. K. Albert, Timothy H. Vines

Entomology Faculty Publications

Background: It is commonly reported by editors that it has become harder to recruit reviewers for peer review and that this is because individuals are being asked to review too often and are experiencing reviewer fatigue. However, evidence supporting these arguments is largely anecdotal.

Main body: We examine responses of individuals to review invitations for six journals in ecology and evolution. The proportion of invitations that lead to a submitted review has been decreasing steadily over 13 years (2003–2015) for four of the six journals examined, with a cumulative effect that has been quite substantial (average decline from 56% of …

Examining The Role Of Host Use On Divergence In The Redheaded Pine Sawfly, Neodiprion Lecontei, Across Multiple Spatial Scales, Robin Kimberly Bagley

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Phytophagous insects make up over one quarter of described species on Earth, and this incredible diversity seems directly linked to feeding on plants. Comparative studies of sister groups have shown shifts to herbivory are consistently associated with increased species diversity in insects, but the reasons for this diversification remain unclear. While other explanations, such as decreased extinction rates or influences on population structure, exist, one prominent hypothesis suggests shifts and subsequent adaptation to novel host plants can lead to the evolution of reproductive barriers.

Given their extreme specialization on host plants in the genus Pinus and intimate, life-long association with …