Individual advantages to ecological specialization: insights on cognitive constraints from three conspecific taxa.

Proceedings. Biological Sciences
Scott P Egan, Daniel J Funk

Abstract

The information-processing hypothesis (IPH) posits that specialist herbivores should make host-associated decisions more effectively than generalists and thus enjoy associated fitness advantages that may help explain the evolutionary prevalence of host-specific insects. This is because generalists must evaluate a greater diversity of host plants/cues than specialists and thus face a cognitive challenge that is predicted to constrain the efficiency and accuracy of their choices. Here, we present the first individual-level evaluation of this hypothesis. This involved experimentally quantifying the specificity, efficiency, and accuracy of host selection, as both larvae and adults, for many individuals representing each of three 'host forms' of Neochlamisus bebbianae leaf beetles. These experiments provided several significant findings: host forms differed in larval specificity, with the more specialized host forms more efficiently and accurately selecting optimal hosts as both larvae and adults. Positive correlations between larval specificity and both efficiency and accuracy across test individuals provided the most direct evidence to date for a biological association between these variables. Our results thus provide strong and c...Continue Reading

References

Jun 1, 2002·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Sara J Oppenheim, Fred Gould
Oct 2, 2002·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·P Nosil

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Citations

Mar 25, 2009·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Colin R ToshGraeme D Ruxton
Oct 31, 2009·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Scott P Egan, Daniel J Funk
May 4, 2007·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Susan D Healy, Candy Rowe
Apr 15, 2011·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Colin R ToshDaniel W Franks
Oct 25, 2007·Journal of Evolutionary Biology·G SmithR L Smith
Jul 22, 2008·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Claudio SedivySilvia Dorn
Jan 10, 2012·Journal of Evolutionary Biology·J P Cunningham
May 27, 2010·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Kristina Von RintelenThomas Von Rintelen
Jan 27, 2010·Ecology Letters·Sofia GripenbergTomas Roslin
Sep 3, 2016·Journal of Chemical Ecology·John Paul CunninghamAnthony R Clarke
Feb 5, 2019·Journal of Evolutionary Biology·Juhan JavoišToomas Tammaru
Nov 3, 2017·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Laura J A van DijkMikael A Carlsson
Mar 25, 2021·Die Naturwissenschaften·Pouria AbrunHossein Kishani Farahani
Aug 10, 2021·Ecology and Evolution·Sabine FlöderStefanie Moorthi

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