Local adaptation in adult feeding preference and juvenile performance in the generalist herbivore Idotea balthica

Populations can respond to environmental heterogeneity by genetic adaptation to local conditions. Evidence for local adaptation in herbivores with relatively broad host breadth is scarce, either because generalists rarely locally adapt or because fewer studies have tested for local adaptation. The m...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oecologia 2012-10, Vol.170 (2), p.383-393
Main Authors: Bell, Tina M., Sotka, Erik E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Physiological
Adults
Algae
Animals
Aquatic plants
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Chemical ecology
Ecology
Estuaries
Evolution
Feeding preferences
Food
Food Preferences
Fucus
Grasses
Habitat preferences
Herbivores
Herbivory
Heterogeneity
Hydrology/Water Resources
Isopoda
Life Sciences
Marine ecology
Metabolites
Phenotype
Plant Sciences
PLANT-ANIMAL INTERACTIONS
Plant-animal interactions - Original research
Plants, Edible
Population Dynamics
Sea grasses
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Populations can respond to environmental heterogeneity by genetic adaptation to local conditions. Evidence for local adaptation in herbivores with relatively broad host breadth is scarce, either because generalists rarely locally adapt or because fewer studies have tested for local adaptation. The marine isopod Idotea balthica, a small ( Zostera) and southern adults {Ulva > Fucus > Zostera) closely mirrored ranking of juvenile growth rates, suggesting that preference and performance are strongly correlated across these macrophytes. Several of our assays included isopods that had parents reared under uniform laboratory conditions, indicating that geographic differences are genetically mediated and unlikely to reflect phenotypic plasticity or maternal effects. Local adaptation in host use traits may be common in broadly distributed, generalist herbivores in marine and terrestrial systems, and will manifest itself as local shifts in the preference ranking of hosts.
ISSN:0029-8549
1432-1939
DOI:10.1007/s00442-012-2302-3