Leveraging biological complexity to predict patch occupancy in a recent host range expansion

Specialized plant-insect interactions are a defining feature of life on earth, yet we are only beginning to understand the factors that set limits on host ranges in herbivorous insects. To understand the colonization of alfalfa by the Melissa blue butterfly, we quantified arthropod assemblages and p...

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Published inbioRxiv
Main Authors ister, Matthew, Philbin, Casey, Zach, Marion, Buerkle, Christian A, Dodson, Craig, dyce, James, ister, Glen, Lebeis, Sarah, Lucas, Lauren, Nice, Chris, Gompert, Zach
Format Paper
LanguageEnglish
Published Cold Spring Harbor Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 01.05.2020
Subjects
Colonization
Dispersal
Host plants
Host range
Metabolites
Range extension
Specialization
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Summary:Specialized plant-insect interactions are a defining feature of life on earth, yet we are only beginning to understand the factors that set limits on host ranges in herbivorous insects. To understand the colonization of alfalfa by the Melissa blue butterfly, we quantified arthropod assemblages and plant metabolites across a wide geographic region, while controlling for climate and dispersal inferred from population genomic variation. The presence of the butterfly is successfully predicted by direct and indirect effects of plant traits and interactions with other species. Results are consistent with the predictions of a theoretical model of parasite host range in which specialization is an epiphenomenon of the many barriers to be overcome rather than a consequence of trade-offs in developmental physiology. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.
DOI:10.1101/2020.04.29.069559