GENOTYPIC VARIATION AND INTEGRATION IN HISTOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE GOLDENROD BALL GALL

Abstract

The herb Solidago altissima (Compositae) forms a gall when attacked by the fly Eurosta solidaginis (Diptera: Tephritidae). We performed an experiment to determine how histological features of gall morphology contribute to previously observed genetic variation in gall diameter. Galls induced on 10 replicated plant clones were sectioned, and their internal tissues and cells measured. Four concentric tissue zones were identified, including a cytoplasmically rich tissue lining the insect's central chamber, and a cytoplasmically poor cortex. As expected, outer gall diameter differed among clones, with a broad sense heritability of 0.29. However, clonal differences for component tissue thicknesses were found for only two of the zones; cortex thickness showed the greater genotypic variation, with a broad sense heritability of 0.30. Path analysis was used to examine the contribution of the zone thicknesses, vascular supply and cell sizes to outer gall diameter at the phenotypic, genotypic and environmental‐developmental levels. These showed that cortex thickness was the single greatest determinant of gall size. At the phenotypic level, the single most important determinant of cortex thickness was the number of cortical cells, whereas the amount of cortical vascularization was second in importance. But, at the genotypic level of analysis, vascularization was the single most important determinant of genotypic differences in gall size. The larger the gall, the greater the protection to the inducing insect. Since the bulk of the gall consists of large, cytoplasmically poor cells, the insect gains protection while imposing a small cost on the plant.