RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The role of ecology and geography in the evolution of habitat isolation and sexual isolation among sister species of host-plant-specific insects
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.01.02.474698
DO 10.1101/2022.01.02.474698
A1 Zhang, Linyi
A1 Hood, Glen Ray
A1 Ott, James R.
A1 Egan, Scott P.
YR 2023
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/03/06/2022.01.02.474698.abstract
AB While ecology and geography can play important roles in the evolution of reproductive isolation across the speciation continuum, the few studies to date examining their relative contributions have largely focused on the early stages of speciation. Studies exploring the evolution of multiple reproductive barriers among divergent lineages, where speciation is nearly complete, are also needed to gain a fuller understanding of the mechanisms promoting and constraining the speciation process. We examine the later stage of speciation by comparing the strength of habitat isolation and sexual isolation among closely related species of gall-forming wasps in the genus Belonocnema experiencing divergent ecologies due to different hos plant use and variable rates of migration due to geography. We found that the strength of both habitat isolation and sexual isolation is lowest among allopatric species pairs with the same host plant association, followed by allopatric species with different host plant association, and highest between sympatric species with different host-plant associations. This pattern strongly suggests that both ecology due to divergent host use, and geography contribute to the evolution of these two reproductive barriers. Notably, reproductive character displacement contributes to nearly half of the strength of both habitat isolation and sexual isolation in sympatry.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.