The potential evolutionary impact of invasive balloon vines on native soapberry bugs in South Africa

Following their establishment in new communities, invasive species may cause evolutionary changes in resident native species. This is clearly true for phytophagous insects, which may adapt rapidly when utilising abundant and widespread introduced hosts. The balloon vines Cardiospermumhalicacabum and C.grandiflorum were introduced to South Africa approximately 100 years ago and are classified as minor and major weeds, respectively. Here we assess the potential evolutionary impact of these vines on native Leptocoris soapberry bug populations in Kruger National Park (KNP), using phylogenetic and morphometric analyses. We found that soapberry bugs associated with C.halicacabum are genetically and morphologically distinct from those associated with C.grandiflorum. This suggests that native soapberry bugs in KNP exhibit some degree of host preference, indicating that these vines may have had significant evolutionary consequences for these insects. The proboscis length of soapberry bugs feeding on C.halicacabum closely matched fruit size, often being longer than fruit size at the population level. These soapberry bugs are therefore well-suited to feeding on this introduced plant species.

Adult facilitation becomes competition as juvenile soapberry bugs age

ABSTRACTWhether intraspecific interactions are facilitative or competitive may change across individual ontogeny. In plant-feeding insects, the direction of this interaction is likely to be mediated by host plant defenses. Here I conducted two experiments looking at the direct effect of a physical seed defense and the role of intraspecific facilitation in reducing the effects of that defense for juveniles. I first demonstrate that juveniles of the red-shouldered soapberry bug (Jadera haematoloma) are severely inhibited by the tough seed coat of their host plant, leading to high mortality early in development. Adults, in contrast, can create holes through which other individuals could potentially feed. I then manipulated whether or not seeds experienced adult feeding on two host plant species: a well-defended native host, balloon vine (Cardiospermum corindum) and a poorly defended introduced golden rain tree species (Koelreuteria elegans). I measured the effect of prior adult feeding on survival, development time, and final body size of soapberry bug juveniles. Survival in the first week of development was dramatically improved by prior adult feeding on both hosts. However, the benefits of prior adult feeding ceased after the first week of development and shifted to having a negative effect on performance. These results indicate that adults breaking through the seedcoat initially facilitate juveniles, but that this facilitation becomes competition as juveniles age.

Natural selection and maladaptive plasticity in the red-shouldered soapberry bug

Natural selection and phenotypic plasticity can both produce locally differentiated phenotypes, but novel environments or gene combinations can produce plasticity that works in opposition to adaptive change. The red-shouldered soapberry bug (Jadera haematoloma) was locally adapted to feed on the seeds of an introduced and a native host plant in Florida in the 1980s. By 2014, local differentiation was lost and replaced by phenotypically similar populations all adapted to the introduced host, likely as a result of gene flow. Here, I quantify the effects of these two host plants on individual performance, natural selection, and phenotypic plasticity. I find that the seed coat and seedpod of the native host have strong negative effects on juvenile survival and adult reproduction compared to the introduced host. I find support for the hypothesis that the seedpod is driving diversifying natural selection on beak length, which was previously locally adapted between hosts. I also find maladaptive plasticity induced by host plant: bugs develop beak lengths that are mismatched with the seedpod size of the host they are reared on. This plasticity may be the result of gene flow; hybrids in the 1990s showed the same pattern of maladaptive plasticity, and plasticity is stronger in the present in areas with high gene flow. Although ongoing natural selection has produced locally adapted genotypes in soapberry bugs, maladaptive plasticity has masked the phenotypic difference between populations in the field.