Winter moths don't genetically tune themselves to specific oak trees
Learmonth R, Estandía A, Beaupère L, Cole EF, Sheldon BC
Phenology
The oak in your yard and its resident caterpillars might not be as finely matched as nature documentaries suggest, which matters if you're wondering how a warming spring could throw that relationship out of sync.
Scientists have long thought that winter moth caterpillars evolve to hatch at just the right moment to match when their specific host oak tree leafs out, since eating young, tender leaves is critical for their survival. But after raising moths in controlled conditions, moving eggs between trees, and scanning their DNA, researchers found no evidence these moths are genetically locked in to any one tree's timing. The moths seem to hatch on their own internal schedule instead, which might make the whole system more adaptable to a shifting climate than we thought.
Key Findings
Common garden experiments across multiple temperatures showed hatch timing differences unrelated to the specific host tree's budburst schedule
Translocation experiments found no fitness cost to moths whose hatching was out of sync with their assigned tree
Whole-genome sequencing revealed no detectable population structure or gene associations linked to budburst timing among moths in the 385-hectare Wytham Woods study site
chevron_right Technical Summary
Winter moths time their egg hatching to match oak trees leafing out nearby, but a detailed study found the moths haven't genetically adapted to any individual tree's schedule, meaning this famous insect-plant timing match may be more flexible, and more vulnerable to climate change, than assumed.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
No evidence of fine-scale local adaptation of winter moths to variable tree phenology.
Spatial variation in plant phenology can impose strong selective pressures on herbivorous insects whose fitness relies on synchrony with host plants, promoting local adaptation to host timing. Wint...
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An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus Quercus of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere, with some 500 species, both deciduous and evergreen. ...