A LIFE-HISTORY BASED STUDY OF POPULATION GENETIC STRUCTURE: SEED BANK TO ADULTS IN PLANTAGO LANCEOLATA

We explored the extent to which the soil seed bank differed genetically and spatially in comparison to two actively growing stages in a natural population of Plantago lanceolata. All seed-bank seeds, seedlings, and adults of P. lanceolata within eight subunits in a larger population were mapped, subjected to starch gel electrophoresis, and allozyme analysis in 1988. Gel electrophoresis was also used to estimate the mating system in two years, 1986 and 1988. The spatial distributions of seeds, seedlings, and adults were highly coincident. Allele frequencies of the dormant seeds differed significantly from those of the adults for four of the five polymorphic loci. In addition, a comparison of the genotype frequencies of the three life-history stages indicated that the seed bank had an excess of homozygotes. Homozygosity, relative to Hardy-Weinberg expectations, decreased during the life cycle (for seed bank, seedlings, and adults respectively: F_it = 0.19, 0.09, 0.01; F_is = 0.14, 0.04, -0.12). Spatial genetic differentiation increased sixfold during the life cycle: (for seed bank, seedling and adults: F_s1??? = 0.02, 0.05, 0.12). The apparent selfing rate was 0.01 in 1986 and 0.09 in 1988. These selfing rates are not large enough to account for the elevated homozygosity of the seed bank. Inbreeding depression, overdominance for fitness, and a “temporal Wahlund's effect” are discussed as possible mechanisms that could generate high homozygosity in the seed bank, relative to later life-history stages. In Plantago lanceolata, the influence of the mating system and the “genetic memory” of the seed bank are obscured by the time plants reach the reproductive stage.     

GENETIC CONSTRAINTS AND THE PHYLOGENY OF INSECT-PLANT ASSOCIATIONS: RESPONSES OF OPHRAELLA COMMUNA (COLEOPTERA: CHRYSOMELIDAE) TO HOST PLANTS OF ITS CONGENERS

We ask whether patterns of genetic variation in a phytophagous insect's responses to potential host plants shed light on the phylogenetic history of host association. Ophraella communa feeds chiefly, and in eastern North America exclusively, on Ambrosia (Asteraceae: Ambrosiinae). Using mostly half-sib breeding designs, we screened for genetic variation in feeding responses to and larval survival on its own host and on seven other plants that are hosts (or, on one case, closely related to the host) of other species of Ophraella. We found evidence for genetic variation in feeding responses to five of the seven test plants, other than the natural host. We found no evidence of genetic variation in feeding responses to two plant species, nor in capacity for larval survival on six. These results imply constraints on the availability of genetic variation; however, little evidence for constraints in the form of negative genetic correlations was found. These results are interpreted in the context of a provisional phylogeny of, and a history of host shifts within, the genus. Ophraella communa does not present evidence of genetic variation in its ability to feed and/or survive on Solidago, even though it is probably descended from a lineage that fed on Solidago or related plants, possibly as recently as 1.9 million years ago. Genetic variation in performance on this plant may have been lost. Based on evidence for genetic variation and on mean performance, by far the greatest potentiality for adaptation to a congener's host was evinced in responses to Iva frutescens, which not only is related and chemically similar to Ambrosia, but also is the host of a closely related species of Ophraella that may have been derived from an Ambrosia-associated ancestor. Genetic variation in O. communa's capacity to feed and/or survive on its congeners' hosts is less evident for plants that do not represent historically realized host shifts (with one exception) than for those that may (but see Note Added in Proof). The results offer some support for the hypothesis that the evolution of host shifts has been guided in part by constrained genetic variation.     

GENETIC POPULATION STRUCTURE AND LEVELS OF GENE FLOW IN THE STREAM DWELLING WATERSTRIDER,AQUARIUS (=GERRIS) REMIGIS (HEMIPTERA: GERRIDAE)

Gene flow, in combination with selection and drift, determines levels of differentiation among local populations. In this study we estimate gene flow in a stream dwelling, flightless waterstrider, Aquarius remigis. Twenty-eight Aquarius remigis populations from Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick, Iowa, North Carolina, and California were genetically characterized at 15 loci using starch gel electrophoresis. Sampling over two years was designed for a hierarchical analysis of population structure incorporating variation among sites within streams, streams within watersheds, watersheds within regions, and regions within North America. Hierarchical F statistics indicated that only sites within streams maintained enough gene flow to prevent differentiation through drift (Nm = 27.5). Above the level of sites within streams gene flow is highly restricted (Nm ≤ 0.5) and no correlation is found between genetic and geographic distances. This agrees well with direct estimates of gene flow based on mark and recapture data, yielding an N_e of approximately 170 individuals. Previous assignment of subspecific status to Californian A. remigis is not supported by genetic distances between those populations and other populations in North America. Previous suggestion of specific status for south-eastern A. remigis is supported by genetic distances between North Carolina populations and other populations in North America, and a high proportion of region specific alleles in the North Carolina populations. However, because of the high degree of morphological and genetic variability throughout the range of this species, the assignment of specific or subspecific status to parts of the range may be premature.