Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Individuals living in heterogeneous environments often choose microenvironments that provide benefits to their fitness. Theory predicts that such niche choice can promote rapid adaptation to novel environments and help maintain genetic diversity. An open question of large applied importance is how niche choice and niche choice evolution affect the evolution of insecticide resistance in phytophagous insects. We, therefore, developed an individual-based model based on phytophagous insects to examine the evolution of insecticide resistance and niche choice via oviposition preferences. To find biologically realistic parameter ranges, we performed an empirical literature survey on insecticide resistance in major agricultural pests and also conducted a density-dependent survival experiment using potato beetles. We find that, in comparison to a scenario where individuals randomly oviposit eggs on toxic or non-toxic plants, the evolution of niche choice generally leads to slower evolution of resistance and facilitates the coexistence of different phenotypes. Our simulations also reveal that recombination rate and dominance effects can influence the evolution of both niche choice and resistance. Thus, this study provides new insights into the effects of niche choice on resistance evolution and highlights the need for more studies on the genetic basis of resistance and choice.
Source: Journal of Evolutionary Biology
DOI: 10.1093/jeb/voae154
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,178
Funder: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Awards: TRR 212: Eine neue Synthese zur Individualisation für die Verhaltensforschung, Ökologie und Evolution: Nischenwahl, Nischenkonformität, Nischenkonstruktion (NC3), G2957513441, G3382848674, Individualisierte Nischen in einer variablen Umwelt – Konsequenzen für die Reaktion auf Umweltveränderungen und für Artinteraktionen
OpenAlex ID: W4405322664