Abstract
A geographic mosaic of coevolution has produced local reciprocal adaptation in tall goldenrod, Solidago altissima (L.), and the goldenrod ball-gall fly, Eurosta solidaginis (Fitch 1855). The fly is selected to induce gall diameters that minimize mortality from natural enemies, and the plant is selected to limit gall growth that reduces plant fitness. We conducted a double reciprocal transplant experiment where S. altissima and E. solidaginis from three sites were grown in gardens at each site to partition the gall morphology variation into fly genotype, plant genotype, and the environment components. The host plant gall diameter induced by each E. solidaginis population was adapted to inhibit local natural enemies from ovipositing on or consuming enclosed larvae. Reciprocally, increasing the gall size induced by the local fly population increased the resistance of the local plant host population to gall growth. Differences among sites in natural enemies produced a mosaic of hotspots of coevolutionary arms races between flies selecting for greater gall diameter and plants for smaller diameters, and coldspots where there is no selection on plant or fly for a change in gall diameter. In contrast, the geographic variations of gall length and gall shape were not due to coevolutionary interactions.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3056-3070 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Evolution |
| Volume | 75 |
| Issue number | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation (DEB 0801000) and the University of Minnesota Duluth. The three garden sites were provided by the University of Minnesota Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, the Research and Field Studies Center in Duluth, and by Minnesota State University Moorhead at their Regional Science Center. This work would not have been possible without the enormous contributions of our research students installing the three garden sites and collecting the data; graduate students A. Lindberg‐Anderson and K. Anderson and undergraduate research students E. Kalkbrenner, M. Knowles, W. Licht, C. Schimke, and N. Zarnstorff. We thank J. Pastor, and L. Medina, and for helpful comments on the manuscript. John Thompson and two anonymous reviewers provided insightful comments on an earlier draft that improved the manuscript. We dedicate this paper to the memory of Dr. Christopher C. Smith who pioneered research on geographic mosaics of coevolution.
Funding Information:
Data were archived with National Science Foundation, NSF grant: DEB 0801000 and Dryad https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.j9kd51cc0
Funding Information:
This research was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation (DEB 0801000) and the University of Minnesota Duluth. The three garden sites were provided by the University of Minnesota Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, the Research and Field Studies Center in Duluth, and by Minnesota State University Moorhead at their Regional Science Center. This work would not have been possible without the enormous contributions of our research students installing the three garden sites and collecting the data; graduate students A. Lindberg-Anderson and K. Anderson and undergraduate research students E. Kalkbrenner, M. Knowles, W. Licht, C. Schimke, and N. Zarnstorff. We thank J. Pastor, and L. Medina, and for helpful comments on the manuscript. John Thompson and two anonymous reviewers provided insightful comments on an earlier draft that improved the manuscript. We dedicate this paper to the memory of Dr. Christopher C. Smith who pioneered research on geographic mosaics of coevolution.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Evolution © 2021 The Society for the Study of Evolution.
Keywords
- Coevolution
- gall
- geographic mosaic of coevolution
- local adaptation
- parasitoid
- tritrophic interactions