Premium
Tracking the elusive history of diversification in plant–herbivorous insect–parasitoid food webs: insights from figs and fig wasps
Author(s) -
Kjellberg Finn,
Proffit Magali
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/mec.13533
Subject(s) - biology , ecology , parasitoid , pollinator , herbivore , pollination , biodiversity , evolutionary ecology , population , hymenoptera , host (biology) , pollen , demography , sociology
The food webs consisting of plants, herbivorous insects and their insect parasitoids are a major component of terrestrial biodiversity. They play a central role in the functioning of all terrestrial ecosystems, and the number of species involved is mind‐blowing (Nyman et al . [Nyman T, 2015]). Nevertheless, our understanding of the evolutionary and ecological determinants of their diversity is still in its infancy. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Sutton et al . ([Sutton TL, 2016]) open a window into the comparative analysis of spatial genetic structuring in a set of comparable multitrophic models, involving highly species‐specific interactions: figs and fig wasps. This is the first study to compare genetic structure using population genetics tools in a fig‐pollinating wasp ( Pleistodontes imperialis sp1) and its main parasitoid ( Sycoscapter sp.A). The fig‐pollinating wasp has a discontinuous spatial distribution that correlates with genetic differentiation, while the parasitoid bridges the discontinuity by parasitizing other pollinator species on the same host fig tree and presents basically no spatial genetic structure. The full implications of these results for our general understanding of plant–herbivorous insect–insect parasitoids diversification become apparent when envisioned within the framework of recent advances in fig and fig wasp biology.