Hundreds of thousands of species of insects feed on plants. Most of these species, including most the small minority that are serious pests of crops and timber, are highly host-specific in respect of the kinds of plants on which they feed. The evolution of any feature, such as preference for a particular food plant, requires that there has existed genetic variation in that feature. Therefore, understanding why particular host plant insect herbivore associations have evolved can be provided by assaying the genetic variation within insect populations for those features associated with successful use of a particular species of plants. Dr. Futuyma will work with species of Ophraella, a group of beetles in which each species is associated only with one or another genus of plants in the sunflower family (Asteraceae). This research is among the first attempts to determine whether historical evolutionary events that can be deduced from phylogenetic studies can be predicted at all from genetic analyses of contemporaneous species. As such, it seeks to synthesize two very different research programs in evolutionary biology - deduction of evolutionary history and genetic analysis of evolutionary processes. More particularly, it addresses the question of whether or not genetic analysis can shed light on why insect species have adapted to some plants rather than others. This work also has implications for the management of crop and timber pests. The present research can serve as a model for assays of genetic variation in insects that may enable crop entomologists to predict the likelihood that insects may become pests, even if at first they are not.
