10.5061/DRYAD.7NK99
Garcia-Robledo, Carlos
University of Connecticut
Horvitz, Carol C.
University of Miami
Kress, W. John
Smithsonian Institution
Carvajal-Acosta, A. Nalleli
University of California, Irvine
Erwin, Terry L.
Smithsonian Institution
Staines, Charles L.
Smithsonian Institution
Data from: Experimental assemblage of novel plant-herbivore interactions:
ecological host shifts after 40 million years of isolation
Dryad
dataset
2017
Chrysomelidae
Zingiberales
2010 - 2017
phylogenetic constraints
Cephaloleia
diet expansions
ecological fitting
2017-05-12T15:51:29Z
2017-05-12T15:51:29Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.12464
321584 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Geographic isolation is the first step in insect herbivore diet
specialization. Such specialization is postulated to increase insect
fitness, but may simultaneously reduce insect ability to colonize novel
hosts. During the Paleocene-Eocene, plants from the order Zingiberales
became isolated either in the Paleotropics or in the Neotropics. During
the Cretaceous, rolled-leaf beetles diversified in the Neotropics
concurrently with neotropical Zingiberales. Using a community of Costa
Rican rolled-leaf beetles and their Zingiberales host plants as study
system, we explored if previous geographic isolation precludes insects to
expand their diets to exotic hosts. We recorded interactions between
rolled-leaf beetles and native Zingiberales by combining DNA barcodes and
field records for 7450 beetles feeding on 3202 host plants. To determine
phylogenetic patterns of diet expansions, we set 20 field plots including
five exotic Zingiberales, recording beetles feeding on these exotic hosts.
In the laboratory, using both native and exotic host plants, we reared a
subset of insect species that had expanded their diets to the exotic
plants. The original plant-herbivore community comprised 24 beetle species
feeding on 35 native hosts, representing 103 plant-herbivore interactions.
After exotic host plant introduction, 20% of the beetle species expanded
their diets to exotic Zingiberales. Insects only established on exotic
hosts that belong to the same plant family as their native hosts.
Laboratory experiments show that beetles are able to complete development
on these novel hosts. In conclusion, rolled-leaf beetles are pre-adapted
to expand their diets to novel host plants even after millions of years of
geographic isolation.
B_Data_for_cluster_analyses_Fig_2Dataset 1. Matrix of quantitative
interactions used to generate cluster analysis (Fig.
2)C_Data_time_to_pupation_Fig_4Dataset 2. Data to generate Fig. 4. Time to
pupation of rolled-leaf beetles reared on native and novel
hosts.D_Data_proportion_emergence_Fig_5Dataset 3. Data to generate Fig. 5.
Proportion of emergence of adult rolled-leaf beetles reared on native and
novel hosts.
La Selva Biological Station
Costa Rica