Increased fluctuation in a butterfly metapopulation leads to diploid males and decline of a hyperparasitoid

We examined this process empirically using a hyperparasitoid population inhabiting a spatially structured host population in a large fragmented landscape. Over four years of high host butterfly metapopulation fluctuation, diploid male production by the wasp increased, and effective population size declined precipitously. Our multitrophic spatially structured model shows that host population fluctuation can cause local extinctions of the hyperparasitoid because of the DMV. However, regionally it persists because spatial structure allows for efficient local genetic rescue via balancing selection for rare alleles carried by immigrants. This is, to our knowledge, the first empirically based study of the possibility of the DMV in a natural host–parasitoid system.

Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - August 22, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Nair, A., Nonaka, E., van Nouhuys, S. Tags: genetics, ecology, evolution Source Type: research