Abstract

Local adaptation is central for creating and maintaining spatial variation in plant-herbivore interactions. Short-lived insect herbivores feeding on long-lived plants are likely to adapt to their local host plants, because of their short generation time, poor dispersal, and geographically varying selection due to variation in plant defences. In a reciprocal feeding trial, we investigated the impact of geographic variation in plant secondary chemistry of a long-lived plant, Vincetoxicum hirundinaria, on among-population variation in local adaptation of a specialist leaf-feeding herbivore, Abrostola asclepiadis. The occurrence and degree of local adaptation varied among populations. This variation correlated with qualitative and quantitative differences in plant chemistry among the plant populations. These findings provide insights into the mechanisms driving variation in local adaptation in this specialized plant-herbivore interaction.

Highlights

  • Local adaptation is central for creating and maintaining spatial variation in antagonistic interactions [1,2,3]

  • We investigated local adaptation of the specialist herbivorous moth, Abrostola asclepiadis Schiff. (Lepidoptera), on its host plant, Vincetoxicum hirundinaria Med. ( = Cynanchum vincetoxicum (L.) Pers.) (Apocynaceae, former: Asclepiadaceae), in a reciprocal feeding trial using three populations located in the southwestern archipelago of Finland

  • These results suggest lack of local adaptation: survival did not differ between herbivores fed on sympatric and allopatric host plants

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Summary

Introduction

Local adaptation is central for creating and maintaining spatial variation in antagonistic interactions [1,2,3]. Spatial variation in fitness-related traits of the interacting species, such as host defence and counter-defence of the enemy, may reflect divergent selection among populations, which often results in local adaptation [2,4]. Natural enemies are locally adapted if their fitness is higher on hosts from sympatric (i.e. home) population compared to those from allopatric (i.e. away) populations. Adaptation to local host populations is likely to evolve when the enemy has strong negative effects on host fitness and when the migration rate of the enemy is higher than that of the host [7,8]. Several studies including plant-herbivore, plantpathogen, and animal systems have observed local adaptation of natural enemies to their hosts (e.g., [4,9,10])

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