Effective specialist or jack of all trades? Experimental evolution of a crop pest in fluctuating and stable environments

Understanding pest evolution in agricultural systems is crucial for developing effective and innovative pest control strategies. Types of cultivation, such as crop monocultures versus polycultures or crop rotation, may act as a selective pressure on pests’ capability to exploit the host’s resources. In this study, we examined the herbivorous mite Aceria tosichella (commonly known as wheat curl mite), a widespread wheat pest, to understand how fluctuating versus stable environments influence its niche breadth and ability to utilize different host plant species. We subjected a wheat-bred mite population to replicated experimental evolution in a single-host environment (either wheat or barley), or in an alternation between these two plant species every three mite generations. Next, we tested the fitness of these evolving populations on wheat, barley, and on two other plant species not encountered during experimental evolution, namely rye and smooth brome. Our results revealed that the nich...阐明农业系统中害虫的演化机制，对于研发高效且创新性的害虫防控策略至关重要。诸如作物单作与混作、作物轮作等不同耕作模式，可作为选择压力，影响害虫利用寄主资源的能力。本研究以广泛发生的小麦害虫——食植性螨类小麦卷叶螨（Aceria tosichella，俗称wheat curl mite）为研究对象，旨在探究波动环境与稳定环境如何影响其生态位宽度，以及利用不同寄主植物的能力。我们将初始采自小麦的螨种群，置于两种条件下开展重复实验演化培养：一种为单寄主环境（仅种植小麦或仅种植大麦），另一种是每繁衍三代螨后，交替更换这两种植物作为寄主。随后，我们分别在小麦、大麦，以及实验演化过程中未接触过的另外两种植物——黑麦与扁穗雀麦上，检测了这些演化种群的适合度。本研究结果显示，其生态位（原文此处截断）