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Pine, aphids, and parasitoid wasps: patterns of cospeciation and host switches in a tri-trophic system
Title
Pine, aphids, and parasitoid wasps: patterns of cospeciation and host switches in a tri-trophic system.
Creator
Bass, Amber, Sharanowski, Barbara, Fedorka, Kenneth, Hoffman, Eric, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Ecological interactions may drive speciation events, and the processes that drive these speciation events can leave behind patterns in the phylogenies of interacting taxa. These patterns have been studied extensively in herbivores and host plants, as well as parasites and their hosts, but rarely in tri-trophic systems. Here, we examine three closely related groups of interacting taxa, including parasitoid wasps (Pauesia), aphid herbivores (Cinara), and pine trees (Pinus) to determine if the...
Show moreEcological interactions may drive speciation events, and the processes that drive these speciation events can leave behind patterns in the phylogenies of interacting taxa. These patterns have been studied extensively in herbivores and host plants, as well as parasites and their hosts, but rarely in tri-trophic systems. Here, we examine three closely related groups of interacting taxa, including parasitoid wasps (Pauesia), aphid herbivores (Cinara), and pine trees (Pinus) to determine if the patterns between each interacting taxa indicate that cospeciation or host switches are more dominant. We create phylogenies of Cinara and Pauesia in the southeastern United States using ddRADseq data and analyze publicly available data for Pinus. Most Cinara and Pauesia were specialized, with no species utilizing more than three hosts, indicating that this system is well suited to cophylogenetic study, and host interactions likely play a role in the speciation of these taxa. Pauesia was slightly more specialized on Pinus, suggesting phytochemistry may constrain the host breadth of these wasps and lead to coevolutionary patterns between Pauesia and Pinus. Distance-based cophylogenetic analyses suggest that aphids and pine, and wasps and aphids have dependent phylogenies, but these analyses differ in regards to wasps and pine. However, event-based methods show that cospeciation events and host switches both present, often in nearly equal proportions, and duplications and sorting events occurred at a lower frequency if at all. Both Cinara and Pauesia require revisions and the development of updated taxonomic resources for identification. This system presents an ideal model group to study coevolutionary patterns and multi-trophic community dynamics across macro- and microevolutionary time scales.
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Date Issued
2019
Identifier
CFE0007430, ucf:52707
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007430
The Evolution of Peristenus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae): Taxonomy, Phylogenetics and Ecological Speciation
Title
The Evolution of Peristenus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae): Taxonomy, Phylogenetics and Ecological Speciation.
Creator
Zhang, Yuanmeng, Sharanowski, Barbara, Hoffman, Eric, Savage, Anna, Marcus, Jeffrey, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
Parasitoid wasps are ecologically and economically important as biological control agents. However, little is known about the diversity, distribution and biology of most hymenopteran parasitoids due to their small size, morphological conservatism, and complex life styles. The focus of my PhD research was to investigate the evolution and speciation of euphorine braconid wasps, using a combination of multilocus phylogenetics and population genomic techniques combined with traditional taxonomy....
Show moreParasitoid wasps are ecologically and economically important as biological control agents. However, little is known about the diversity, distribution and biology of most hymenopteran parasitoids due to their small size, morphological conservatism, and complex life styles. The focus of my PhD research was to investigate the evolution and speciation of euphorine braconid wasps, using a combination of multilocus phylogenetics and population genomic techniques combined with traditional taxonomy. The three data chapters of my dissertation are divided into different taxonomic ranks of euphorine braconids, focusing on genera, species, and populations. For chapter 2, I built a multilocus phylogeny of the tribe Euphorini with extensive taxa sampling around the globe. I confirmed the monophyly of Peristenus and Leiophron, two important biological control agents, and provided updated generic concepts and identification resources to aid applied researchers. In Chapters 3 and 4, I focused on cryptic species within the Peristenus pallipes complex in North America. I used an integrative taxonomic approach to resolve the taxonomic confusion within the Nearctic Peristenus pallipes complex (Chapter 3), then I used ddRADSeq to examine their evolutionary relationships with their Lygus hosts (Chapter 4). My dissertation provided a comprehensive analysis of Peristenus at multiple taxonomic ranks using phylogenetics and population genomics, providing insights into their evolutionary history that can be extrapolated into other groups of parasitoid wasps. The results from these studies also advanced our understanding of this group of animals of theoretical, economical, and conservation importance.
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Date Issued
2018
Identifier
CFE0007272, ucf:52194
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007272
Advanced castes at the outset of eusociality in wasps (Vespidae)
Title
Advanced castes at the outset of eusociality in wasps (Vespidae).
Creator
Piekarski, Patrick, Sharanowski, Barbara, Carpenter, James, Hoffman, Eric, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description
A dominating and widespread view is that evolutionary change is gradual and waits upon mutation. Likewise, it is thought that workers and queens of eusocial insects diverged gradually and stepwise. That is, rudimentary castes preceded advanced castes. This paradigm hinges on eusociality having evolved once in Vespidae, and primitively eusocial paper wasps lacking ontogenetic caste biasing (differentiation of castes during larval development). Using a phylogenomic approach this study shows...
Show moreA dominating and widespread view is that evolutionary change is gradual and waits upon mutation. Likewise, it is thought that workers and queens of eusocial insects diverged gradually and stepwise. That is, rudimentary castes preceded advanced castes. This paradigm hinges on eusociality having evolved once in Vespidae, and primitively eusocial paper wasps lacking ontogenetic caste biasing (differentiation of castes during larval development). Using a phylogenomic approach this study shows strong evidence for two origins of eusociality in vespid wasps, wherein one origin is likely characterized by the sudden appearance of castes with physiological, and perhaps even morphological, differences established before adulthood (i.e. advanced castes). Ontogenetic caste biasing was likely present at the outset of eusociality in the most recent common ancestor of paper wasps, yellowjackets and hornets. This suggests that the definitive, non-temporal castes of eusocial wasps evolved from interactions between mothers and daughters, rather than same generation females. These results challenge the idea that castes began with only rudimentary differences. A model of stepwise caste divergence, which assumes an independent mutation event for each phenotypic caste difference, is unwarranted. It is hypothesized that phenotypic plasticity and cryptic genetic variation may explain how some eusocial societies emerged, and began with advanced castes. The results suggest that evolution can produce alternative phenotypes with many aspects of the phenotype being discrete at the outset. Thus, the emergence and divergence of castes in eusocial vespids was not necessarily a gradual process.
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Date Issued
2017
Identifier
CFE0006640, ucf:51240
Format
Document (PDF)
PURL
http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006640