DOCSLIB.ORG

Metapopulation Research Group

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Metapopulation Research Group Annual Report 2008 Metapopulation Research Group Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences University of Helsinki Helsinki 2008 Contact information Address: Metapopulation Research Group Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences P.O.Box 65 (Viikinkaari 1) FI-00014 University of Helsinki Finland Phone: +358 9 1911 (exchange) Fax: +358 9 191 57694 E-mail: [email protected] www: www.helsinki.fi/science/metapop © Metapopulation Research Group Layout: Sami Ojanen MRG-logo: Gergely Várkonyi Face photos: Evgeniy Meyke Printed in Picaset OY Helsinki, December 2008 Contents Evolution of the Metapopulation Research Group .......................................5 Brief history and overview of MRG .............................................................6 Research Projects .........................................................................................9 Integrative ecology Metapopulation biology of the Glanville fritillary ............................................................................ 10 Functional genomics of the Glanville fritillary ...................................................................................12 The Glanville fritillary metacommunity in the Åland islands ....................................................... 14 Metacommunity dynamics in mosaic landscapes............................................................................ 16 Metacommunity dynamics of wood-decaying fungi ...................................................................... 18 Mathematical modelling Dispersal and ecological and evolutionary dynamics .................................................................... 20 Stochasticity and space in population dynamics..............................................................................22 Large scale ecology and conservation Biodiversity informatics and conservation ..........................................................................................24 Brown bear project .......................................................................................................................................27 Biology of an old adaptive radiation: Evolutionary ecology of dung beetles in Madagascar ............................................................. 28 Other projects Ecology of small rodents and their predators ...................................................................................30 Butterfly expansion and climate change .............................................................................................31 Spatially structured coevolution .............................................................................................................32 Supporting personnel ................................................................................................ 34 Synopsis of the year 2008 ..........................................................................35 Publications .....................................................................................................................................................36 Honours, awards and memberships ......................................................................................................46 Conferences and seminars ........................................................................................................................47 Work abroad ...................................................................................................................................................48 Visitors ..............................................................................................................................................................48 Teaching ...........................................................................................................................................................49 Budget ...............................................................................................................................................................50 Prospects for the year 2009 ......................................................................................................................52 Evolution of the Metapopulation Research Group esearch groups are like local populations in a metapopulation, nodes in a vast global network. Some groups are large, others are small, partly because the amount of resources Rvary from one ‘patch’ (institute) to another, partly because of variation in the many other factors affecting the sizes and dynamics of research groups. New groups are constantly being established while others gradually dwindle to extinction. There is dispersal and gene flow among existing research groups. Research groups are typically established around a single researcher. Successful groups then increase in size – in the numbers of students, post docs, and technicians. In 5-10 years time, the growth becomes limited by lack of resources such as space and funding but also by the time that the senior researcher has available for running the group. At this point a successful group starts sending dispersers to other groups and even to establish new groups elsewhere - to compete for resources away from the natal patch. All this has happened in the case of the Metapopulation Research Group (MRG), but our group has additionally undergone a transformation from a research group of a single researcher to a large group jointly run by several researchers. There is now important internal structure within MRG, each senior researcher having his or her own students and post docs and partly own funding. MRG has been retained as an umbrella organization partly for funding purposes – we have been competitive as a group for the Centre-of-Excellence funding from the Academy of Finland (national research council). But there is more to it. MRG has evolved into a large group with a range of interests and expertises from mathematics and computer science to ecology, population biology, and conservation biology. In the past few years, we have started to move into molecular biology, genomics, and bioinformatics. This latter expansion is still happening, but it is already apparent that in a few years time MRG will be quite a beast. Evolution of research groups is an interesting and important phenomenon, not least because it will set the stage for the type of academic training and research that is going on. There is no single path that every research group should follow, diversity of groups adds to the strength of the network of groups as a whole. We have become a large group in terms of both human and material resources. We should aim to make contributions to research that are not possible without these resources. These contributions include further integration of theoretical and empirical research in population biology, which has been our strength in the past, but also meaningful integration of molecular- level and population-level studies. Ilkka Hanski ©Tapio Vanhatalo 5 Brief history and overview of MRG etapopulation Research Group was Current status established by Ilkka Hanski in 1991. MHanski had worked on spatially structured MRG is the leading research group worldwide in populations since the late 1970’s. The early metapopulation biology and one of the Centres-of- work dealt with small-scale spatial structure Excellence in Research nominated by the Academy within populations, but since the early 1980’s of Finland (national research council) in 2006-11. the focus shifted to larger spatial scales and to Our past strengths include successful integration metapopulation dynamics. Important events leading of theory, modelling, and empirical research, as to the establishment of MRG include the first well as the development of the Glanville fritillary international meeting on metapopulation dynamics butterfly into a widely recognized model system in organized by Hanski and Michael Gilpin (San Diego, metapopulation biology. The senior researchers who US), which resulted in the first edited volume on have joined MRG as group leaders in the past years the subject (Gilpin & Hanski, 1991, Metapopulation have opened up new fronts of research in bringing Dynamics: Empirical and Theoretical Investigations, together metapopulation biology and state-of- Academic Press, London). The long-term and the-art mathematical modelling (Ovaskainen) large-scale metapopulation project on the Glanville and functional genomics (Frilander) as well as fritillary butterfly (Melitaea cinxia) in the Åland incorporating spatial dynamics into research on the Islands in SW Finland was started in 1991. design of reserve networks (Moilanen). Current structure General goals for research The graph shows the growth of MRG since 1992. Our vision of top-quality interdisciplinary research At present, MRG is a highly international group of in population biology and evolutionary biology 40 senior researchers, post docs, post graduate involves work that is motivated by biological students, and supporting personnel representing questions but which at the same time may make an 11 nationalities. The senior researchers are leaders original contribution to basic research in the other of their own groups of students and post docs as disciplines that are represented in MRG: molecular described on p. 7. The senior researchers represent a biology, mathematics, and computer science. The wide range of expertises, including ecology (Hanski, work includes both basic research and applications Roslin, van Nouhuys), computer science (Moilanen), to
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Generalized Olfactory Detection of Floral Volatiles in the Highly Specialized Greya-Lithophragma Nursery Pollination System
    Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2021 Generalized olfactory detection of floral volatiles in the highly specialized Greya-Lithophragma nursery pollination system Schiestl, Florian P ; Wallin, Erika A ; Beck, John J ; Friberg, Magne ; Thompson, John N Abstract: Volatiles are of key importance for host-plant recognition in insects. In the pollination system of Lithophragma flowers and Greya moths, moths are highly specialized on Lithophragma, in whichthey oviposit and thereby pollinate the flowers. Floral volatiles in Lithophragma are highly variable between species and populations, and moths prefer to oviposit into Lithophragma flowers from populations of the local host species. Here we used gas chromatography coupled with electroantennographic detection (GC-EAD) to test whether Greya moths detect specific key volatiles or respond broadly to many volatiles of Lithophragma flowers. We also addressed whether olfactory detection in Greya moths varies across populations, consistent with a co-evolutionary scenario. We analyzed flower volatile samples from three different species and five populations of Lithophragma occurring across a 1400 km range intheWestern USA, and their sympatric female Greya politella moths. We showed that Greya politella detect a broad range of Lithophragma volatiles, with a total of 23 compounds being EAD active. We chemically identified 15 of these, including the chiral 6, 10, 14-trimethylpentadecan-2-one (hexahydrofarnesyl acetone), which was not previously detected in Lithophragma. All investigated Lithophragma species produced the (6R, 10R)-enantiomer of this compound. We showed that Greya moths detected not only volatiles of their local Lithophragma plants, but also those from allopatric populations/species that they not encounter in local populations.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 15 Comparative Phylogeography of North- Western North America: a Synthesis
    Chapter 15 Comparative phylogeography of north- western North America: a synthesis S. J. Brunsfeld,* J. Sullivan,†D. E. Soltis‡and P. S. Soltis§ Introduction Phylogeography is concerned with the principles and processes that determine the geographic distributions of genealogical lineages, within and among closely related species (Avise et al. 1987;Avise 2000).Although this field of study is very new (only a little more than a decade has passed since the term ‘phylogeography’was first coined; see Avise et al. 1987),the scientific literature in this research area is now voluminous. To date, most phylogeographic investigations of natural populations have focused on muticellular animals (Hewitt 1993; Patton et al. 1994; daSilva & Patton 1998; Eizirik et al. 1998;Avise 2000; Hewitt 2000; Schaal & Olsen 2000; Sullivan et al. 2000). This bias is due in large part to the ready availability of population-level genetic markers afforded by the animal mitochondrial genome. The more slowly evolving chloroplast genome,in contrast,often does not provide sufficient variation to reconstruct phylogeny at the populational level (Soltis et al. 1997; Schaal et al. 1998; Schaal & Olsen 2000). Phylogeographic data have accumulated so rapidly for animal taxa that it has been possible to compare phylogeographic structure among codistributed species. In fact, one of the most profound recent contributions of molecular phylogeography is the construction of regional phylogeographic perspec- tives that permit comparisons of phylogeographic structure among codistributed species, and subsequent integration of genealogical data with independent biogeo- graphic and systematic data. Probably the best-known regional phylogeographic analysis for North America involves animals from the southeastern USA (reviewed in Avise 2000).
    [Show full text]
  • Slide Show Coevolution of Prodoxid Moths
    One of the Classic Examples of Coevolution Prodoxid Moths and Their Host Plants Yucca Greya moths moths G. variabilis Some unknown G. subalbaancestor G. enchrysa G. obscura G. mitellae G. politella G. piperella Moderately Highly Antagonist Commensal/ Inefficient Efficient Efficient Obligate Antagonist Mutualist Mutualist Mutualist, mutualist (What we knew in 1979) Sometimes Exclusive Thompson, Pellmyr, Segraves, Althoff, Brown,… What We Now Know: Diversification of Traits and Ecological Outcomes Prodoxid Moths and Their Host Plants Yucca Greya moths moths G. variabilis G. subalba G. enchrysa G. obscura G. mitellae G. politella T. maculata G. piperella Antagonist Commensal/ Inefficient Moderately Highly Obligate Antagonist Mutualist Efficient Efficient mutualist Mutualist Mutualist, Sometimes Exclusive Thompson, Pellmyr, Harrison, Brown, Segraves, Althoff, Cunningham, Nuismer, Merg, Cuautle, Rich, Laine, Schwind, Friberg, Raguso,… Diversification of Derived Taxa in Drier Habitats Basal Prodoxidae Basal Greya Derived Greya Yucca moths Wahlberg et al. 2013 for Prodoxidae Pellmyr et al. (various) for Yucca moths Thompson et al. and Pellmyr et al (various) for Greya Pollination Mutualisms Evolved More than Once In Prodoxid Moths Pollinators 18 5 Monocot-feeders 5-6+ Eudicot-feeders Thompson 2014 in Grant and Grant, eds., In Search of the Causes of Evolution, Princeton Univ. Press These Mutualisms Involve Two Plant Families Agavaceae Agavaceae Saxifragaceae Thompson 2014 in Grant and Grant, eds., In Search of the Causes of Evolution, Princeton Univ. Press The Moths Ensure Developing Seeds for Their Offspring: Actively in Yucca Moths Apiaceae Agavaceae Passively in Greya moths: Greya politella on Woodland Stars (Lithophragma) Photos: John N Thompson Lithophragma (Woodland star) Traits Coevolved Unique traits in With Greya Moths Lithophragma parviflorum Variable stigma & style and height, shape, etc.
    [Show full text]
  • FORTY YEARS of CHANGE in SOUTHWESTERN BEE ASSEMBLAGES Catherine Cumberland University of New Mexico - Main Campus
    University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Biology ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations Summer 7-15-2019 FORTY YEARS OF CHANGE IN SOUTHWESTERN BEE ASSEMBLAGES Catherine Cumberland University of New Mexico - Main Campus Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/biol_etds Part of the Biology Commons Recommended Citation Cumberland, Catherine. "FORTY YEARS OF CHANGE IN SOUTHWESTERN BEE ASSEMBLAGES." (2019). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/biol_etds/321 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Biology ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Catherine Cumberland Candidate Biology Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Kenneth Whitney, Ph.D., Chairperson Scott Collins, Ph.D. Paula Klientjes-Neff, Ph.D. Diane Marshall, Ph.D. Kelly Miller, Ph.D. i FORTY YEARS OF CHANGE IN SOUTHWESTERN BEE ASSEMBLAGES by CATHERINE CUMBERLAND B.A., Biology, Sonoma State University 2005 B.A., Environmental Studies, Sonoma State University 2005 M.S., Ecology, Colorado State University 2014 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy BIOLOGY The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico July, 2019 ii FORTY YEARS OF CHANGE IN SOUTHWESTERN BEE ASSEMBLAGES by CATHERINE CUMBERLAND B.A., Biology B.A., Environmental Studies M.S., Ecology Ph.D., Biology ABSTRACT Changes in a regional bee assemblage were investigated by repeating a 1970s study from the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Multilocus Phylogeography of the Flightless Darkling Beetle
    Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 99, 424–444. With 5 figures Multilocus phylogeography of the flightless darkling beetle Nyctoporis carinata (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) in the California Floristic Province: deciphering an evolutionary mosaic MAXI POLIHRONAKIS* and MICHAEL S. CATERINO Department of Invertebrate Zoology, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93105, USA Received 16 July 2009; accepted for publication 9 September 2009bij_1360 424..444 The California Floristic Province (CFP) is considered a global biodiversity hotspot because of its confluence of high species diversity across a wide range of threatened habitats. To understand how biodiversity hotspots such as the CFP maintain and generate diversity, we conducted a phylogeographic analysis of the flightless darkling beetle, Nyctoporis carinata, using multiple genetic markers. Analyses of both nuclear and mitochondrial loci revealed an east–west genetic break through the Transverse Ranges and high genetic diversity and isolation of the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Overall, the results obtained suggest that this species has a deep evolutionary history whose current distribution resulted from migration out of a glacial refugium in the southern Sierra Nevada via the Transverse Ranges. This finding is discussed in light of similar genetic patterns found in other taxa to develop a foundation for understanding the biodiversity patterns of this dynamic area. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 99, 424–444. ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: cytochrome oxidase I (COI/CoxI) – guftagu – southern Sierra Nevada. INTRODUCTION will develop a better understanding of how these regions accumulate and maintain diversity (Avise, The California Floristic Province (CFP) is simulta- 2000).
    [Show full text]
  • Generalized Olfactory Detection of Floral Volatiles in the Highly Specialized Greya-Lithophragma Nursery Pollination System
    Arthropod-Plant Interactions https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-021-09809-5 ORIGINAL PAPER Generalized olfactory detection of foral volatiles in the highly specialized Greya-Lithophragma nursery pollination system Florian P. Schiestl1 · Erika A. Wallin2 · John J. Beck3 · Magne Friberg4 · John N. Thompson5 Received: 20 October 2020 / Accepted: 2 February 2021 © The Author(s) 2021 Abstract Volatiles are of key importance for host-plant recognition in insects. In the pollination system of Lithophragma fowers and Greya moths, moths are highly specialized on Lithophragma, in which they oviposit and thereby pollinate the fowers. Floral volatiles in Lithophragma are highly variable between species and populations, and moths prefer to oviposit into Litho- phragma fowers from populations of the local host species. Here we used gas chromatography coupled with electroanten- nographic detection (GC-EAD) to test whether Greya moths detect specifc key volatiles or respond broadly to many volatiles of Lithophragma fowers. We also addressed whether olfactory detection in Greya moths varies across populations, consistent with a co-evolutionary scenario. We analyzed fower volatile samples from three diferent species and fve populations of Lithophragma occurring across a 1400 km range in the Western USA, and their sympatric female Greya politella moths. We showed that Greya politella detect a broad range of Lithophragma volatiles, with a total of 23 compounds being EAD active. We chemically identifed 15 of these, including the chiral 6, 10, 14-trimethylpentadecan-2-one (hexahydrofarnesyl acetone), which was not previously detected in Lithophragma. All investigated Lithophragma species produced the (6R, 10R)-enantiomer of this compound. We showed that Greya moths detected not only volatiles of their local Lithophragma plants, but also those from allopatric populations/species that they not encounter in local populations.
    [Show full text]
  • Multiple Occurrences of Mutualism in the Yucca Moth Lineage (Coevolution/Mutualism/Pollination) OLLE PELLMYR*T and JOHN N
    Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 89, pp. 2927-2929, April 1992 Evolution Multiple occurrences of mutualism in the yucca moth lineage (coevolution/mutualism/pollination) OLLE PELLMYR*t AND JOHN N. THOMPSONt *Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221; and tDepartments of Botany and Zoology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164 Communicated by Peter H. Raven, January 3, 1992 (received for review July 2, 1991) ABSTRACT The complex mutualism between yuccas and sidered to be the result of long-term coevolution between the the moths that pollinate their flowers is regarded as one of the moths and their yucca hosts (1, 12-15). most obvious cases of coevolution. Studies of related genera The 16 recognized species of Greya, which are endemic to show that at least two of the critical behavioral and life history western North America (16), are the sister group offive small traits suggested to have resulted from coevolved mutualism in genera that include the yucca moths (Fig. 1; 17-19). Greya yucca moths are plesiomorphic to the family. Another trait, species are highly host-specific on members of the families oviposition into flowers, has evolved repeatedly within the Saxifragaceae and Umbelliferae, whereas yucca moths and family. One species with these traits, Greya politeUa, feeds on allies feed exclusively on the Agavaceae. The Agavaceae and pollinates plants of a different family, but pollination feeders include seed parasites, some of which also pollinate occurs through a different component of the oviposition be- their hosts, as well as stem borers and leaf miners (5, 19). havior than in the yucca moths.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Download
    Index to Volume 118 Compiled by Leslie Cody Abies balsamea, 46,95,124,251,268,274,361,388,401,510,530 confines, 431 lasiocarpa, 191,355,584 thomsoni, 431 Abrostola urentis, 541 Agelaius phoeniceus, 201 Acanthopteroctetes bimaculata, 532 Agelaius phoeniceus, Staging in Eastern South Dakota, Spring Acanthopteroctetidae, 532 Dispersal Patterns of Red-winged Blackbirds, 201 Acasis viridata, 539 Aglais milberti, 537 Acer,52 Agonopterix gelidella, 533 negundo, 309 Agriphila ruricolella, 536 rubrum, 41,96,136,136,251,277,361,508 vulgivagella, 536 saccharinum, 41,124,251 Agropyron spp., 400,584 saccharum, 361,507 cristatum, 300 spicatum, 362 pectiniforme, 560 Achigan à grande bouche, 523 repens, 300 à petite bouche, 523 sibiricum, 560 Achillea millefolium, 166 Agrostis sp., 169 Achnatherum richardsonii, 564 filiculmis, 558 Acipenser fulvescens, 523 gigantea, 560 Acipenseridae, 523 Aira praecox, 177 Acleris albicomana, 534 Aix sponsa, 131,230 britannia, 534 Alaska, Changes in Loon (Gavia spp.) and Red-necked Grebe celiana, 534 (Podiceps grisegena) Populations in the Lower Mata- emargana, 535 nuska-Susitna Valley, 210 forbesana, 534 Alaska, Interactions of Brown Bears, Ursus arctos, and Gray logiana, 534 Wolves, Canis lupus, at Katmai National Park and Pre- nigrolinea, 535 serve, 247 obligatoria, 534 Alaska, Seed Dispersal by Brown Bears, Ursus arctos,in schalleriana, 534 Southeastern, 499 variana, 534 Alaska, The Heather Vole, Genus Phenacomys, in, 438 Acorn, J.H., Review by, 468 Alberta: Distribution and Status, The Barred Owl, Strix varia Acossus
    [Show full text]
  • Yuccas, Yucca Moths, and Coevolution: a Review1
    YUCCAS, YUCCA MOTHS, Olle Pellmyr2 AND COEVOLUTION: A REVIEW1 ABSTRACT The obligate pollination mutualism between yuccas (Agavaceae) and yucca moths (Lepidoptera, Prodoxidae), in which the adult moth pollinates yucca ¯owers and her progeny feed on developing seeds, is one of the classically cited examples of coevolution. While known since 1872, our understanding of the ecology and evolution of this association has increased dramatically in the past decade. Here I review current information on organismal diversity and phylo- genetic relationships, ecological relationships, origin and reversal of the mutualism, and the potential for analyzing patterns of co-speciation and the historical role of coevolution on speci®c traits in driving diversi®cation in the inter- action. Major novel developments in recent years include the recognition of a large species complex of pollinators, previously thought to be one polyphagous species; a majority of all moth species are monophagous. Considerable life history diversity has been unveiled, and mechanisms that maintain a mutualistic equilibrium by preventing over- exploitation documented. Phylogenetic and ecological information, including data from other, newly discovered facul- tative pollinators in the Prodoxidae, have been used to erect a hypothesis for the evolution of obligate mutualism. Application of a molecular clock to phylogenetic data suggests that the plant-moth association arose at least 40 Mya, and that the obligate mutualism evolved very quickly after this event. Two separate events of reversal of mutualism have been identi®ed, involving derived ``cheater'' moth species that oviposit into fruits resulting from pollination by other pollinator species. This appears to have happened not through selection for cheating, but rather as a byproduct of a phenological shift to an unexploited seed resource, in which case pollination behavior became redundant.
    [Show full text]
  • Extreme Diversification of Floral Volatiles Within and Among Species of Lithophragma (Saxifragaceae)
    Extreme diversification of floral volatiles within and among species of Lithophragma (Saxifragaceae) Magne Friberga,1, Christopher Schwindb, Paulo R. Guimarães Jr.c, Robert A. Ragusod, and John N. Thompsonb aDepartment of Biology, Lund University, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden; bDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95060; cDepartamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, 05508-090 São Paulo, Brazil; and dDepartment of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 Edited by May R. Berenbaum, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Urbana, IL, and approved January 15, 2019 (received for review June 16, 2018) A major challenge in evolutionary biology is to understand how insects (10–12). Single volatiles can mediate interactions be- complex traits of multiple functions have diversified and codiversified tween plants and pollinators (13, 14), but complex floral scent across interacting lineages and geographic ranges. We evaluate bouquets are common in many taxa (15). These bouquets may intra- and interspecific variation in floral scent, which is a heighten the attraction of preferred pollinators, but they may complex trait of documented importance for mutualistic and function simultaneously as cues for resource detection by seed antagonistic interactions between plants, pollinators, and herbi- predators or herbivores (16–19) and mediate interactions with vores. We performed a large-scale, phylogenetically structured microbes (20, 21). Hence, floral scent should be sensitive to se- study of an entire plant genus (Lithophragma, Saxifragaceae), of lection imposed by the local assemblage of mutualist and an- which several species are coevolving with specialized pollinating tagonist insects, and it may vary among populations within floral parasites of the moth genus Greya (Prodoxidae).
    [Show full text]
  • A Pollinating Seed-Consumer, and Lophocereus Schottii (Cactaceae)
    Ecology, 80(6), 1999, pp. 2074±2084 q 1999 by the Ecological Society of America MUTUALISTIC INTERACTIONS BETWEEN UPIGA VIRESCENS (PYRALIDAE), A POLLINATING SEED-CONSUMER, AND LOPHOCEREUS SCHOTTII (CACTACEAE) J. NATHANIEL HOLLAND1 AND THEODORE H. FLEMING Department of Biology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida 33124 USA Abstract. Pollinating seed-consuming interactions are rare, but include ®g±®g wasp and yucca±yucca moth interactions, both of which are thought to be coevolved. Conditions favoring such mutualisms are poorly known but likely include plants and pollinators whose life cycles are synchronized. In this paper, we describe a new pollinating seed-consumer mutualism between a Sonoran Desert cactus, Lophocereus schottii (senita cactus), and a pyralid moth, Upiga virescens (senita moth). We compare this mutualism with the yucca mutualism in terms of life history traits, active pollination, and selective abortion. Senita cactus ¯owers were pollinated nearly exclusively by nocturnal senita moths, but a few halictid bees also pollinated ¯owers. Only 40% of ¯owers set fruit during the years of study, apparently due to resource limitation. All phases of the senita moth's life history were associated with the senita cactus. During ¯ower visitation, female senita moths col- lected pollen, actively pollinated ¯owers, and oviposited one egg. After ¯owers closed, emerging larvae bored into the tops of developing fruit, where they consumed seeds and fruit tissue. However, not all seeds/fruit were consumed by larvae because only 20% of eggs produced larvae that survived to be seed/fruit consumers. Senita cactus and senita moth interactions were mutualistic. Moths received food resources (seeds, fruit) for their progeny, and cacti had a 4.8 bene®t-to-cost ratio; only 21% of developing fruit were destroyed by larvae.
    [Show full text]
  • Sedgwick Field Notes Occasional Ramblings for Volunteers and Friends of the Sedgwick Reserve
    Sedgwick Field Notes Occasional Ramblings for Volunteers and Friends of the Sedgwick Reserve May 2006 Welcome to New Docent Class Graduates. left to right, Bruce Edwards, husband of Kate McGuiness; Mike Wil- liams, Director; Kate McGuiness; Linda Williams; Sheila Kornblum; and Genie Lauffenburger. Missing: Nancy Priestly. New additions to the docent family were celebrated with a pot luck graduation ceremony. Their backgrounds are varied ranging from the legal profession, teaching, and agriculture, to real estate. Please take some time to introduce yourself the next time you are with them at the Reserve. Joe Dabill’s Class on Native American Crafts Joe getting tinder ready Fire, as easy as that!! Pressure flaking an to make fire obsidian point Joe Dabill’s class on Native American Crafts was one of the highlights of this year’s docent classes. He demonstrated fire making, atlatls (throwing-sticks), and making stone tools. Participants who tried their hands at fire making using sticks found it a lot harder than Joe made it look. A number of people tried, with varying degrees of success, to hit various targets using atlatls. Featured Research Project Project title: Geographic mosaics in diversifying plant/insect interactions Project Principal Investigator: John N. Thompson, UC Santa Cruz, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Contact: John N. Thompson, [email protected] All things . moth Greya politella and Near or far, its major hostplant Litho- Hiddenly phragma parviflorumspans To each other linkèd are . the US Rockies and squeez- . thou canst not stir a flower es through the narrow gap Without troubling of a star .
    [Show full text]