Vaksiklaste ökoloogia võrdlevad uuringud parasvöötme ja troopilises metsas

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsioonePutukate mitmekesisus on erakordselt suur, kuid me teame nende kohta vähe. Töö peamiseks eesmärgiks oli uurida ja võrrelda parasvöötme (Eesti) ja troopika (Uganda) metsaökosüsteemist pärit vaksiklaste (Geometridae) elukäike. Ööliblikate hulka kuuluvaid vaksiklasi on umbes 24000 kirjeldatud liiki, nende ökoloogiat ja kujunemist tuntakse pigem vähe, eriti troopikas. Andmeid koguti ligi 250 liigi kohta ning uuritud liikidele koostati originaalandmetel põhinev fülogeneesipuu. Andmeanalüüsis kasutati liikidevahelist sugulust arvesse võtvaid meetodeid. Troopikas uuriti 15 sagedase puuliigi sobivust vastkoorunud röövikute toiduks. Sarnaselt parasvöötmega leidus ka troopikas vaksikuliike, kes toitusid samaaegselt mitmest sugukonnast pärit taimeliikidest. Parasvöötme vaksikuliikide põhjal näidati, et munemiseelne ooteaeg vangistuses on pikem nendel liikidel, kelle järglased toituvad väiksemast arvust taimedest. Kuna troopiliste liikide toidutaimed ei ole enamasti teada, siis kasutati munemiseelset ooteaega, et uurida, kas ja millisel määral erineb kasutatav toidutaimede arv parasvöötmes ja troopikas. Leiti, et ooteajad on mõlemas piirkonnas sarnased. Tulemused lubavad arvata, toiduks kasutatav taimede arv on mõlemas piirkonnas sarnane. Leiti, et troopilised liigid on raskemad. Massierinevused tulenevad rindmikute suurematest massidest, mis omakorda viitab paremale lennuvõimele. Lisaks leiti veel, troopilised liigid munevad väiksemaid mune kui parasvöötme liigid, mistõttu on ilmselt ka vastkoorunud röövikud troopikas väiksemad. Parasvöötme ja troopika vaksikuliikide valmikute keskmised eluead on sarnased. Tulemused näitasid, et suuremad liigid elavad kauem kui väiksemad liigid. Troopikas on palju valmikutoitu (puuviljad ja õienektar), kuid tulusigimine, st paljunemisstrateegia, mille puhul on paljunemisedukus sõltuv valmikuelu jooksul hangitud ressurssidest, ei olnud troopikas rohkem levinud kui parasvöötmes. Töö tulemuste põhjal võib järeldada, et toidutaimekasutus, eluiga ja paljunemisstrateegia on troopika ja parasvöötme uuritud piirkonna vaksiklastel pigem sarnased. Maailm, mida liigid kogevad, ja tegurid, mis kujundavad nende elukäiku, ei pruugi parasvöötmes ja troopikas olla nii erinevad, nagu enamasti arvatakse.Insects are extremely diverse and we still know relatively little about them. The major aim of this thesis was to compare lives of moth species from the family Geometridae from a temperate and a tropical forest ecosystem. Worldwide there are approximately 24 000 described geometrid species, but we do not know much about the tropical species. For about 250 temperate and tropical region geometrid species, data on host-plant specificity, longevity and breeding strategy were collected. A phylogeny was derived for these species and the collected data compared in phylogenetically informed analyses. The suitability of 15 common tree species as food for freshly hatched caterpillars was tested in host-plant acceptance trials and the larval diet breadth of tropical and temperate species was compared. There were broadly polyphagous species in both regions. For temperate species it was shown that oviposition latency (i.e. pre-oviposition waiting time of a female) in captivity was longer for those geometrid species that have a narrower larval diet breadth. This result provided the possibility to use oviposition latency as an indirect measure of host specificity for the tropical region, where the host plants are not known. When oviposition latency was compared between temperate and tropical regions the waiting times were found to be similar. These results suggest that host-plant specificity is similar in both regions. Tropical species were found to be heavier than temperate ones; the difference is probably caused by the large wings and flying muscles of tropical species, which increase mobility in dense and diverse tropical vegetation. Compared to temperate females, tropical females lay smaller eggs. Therefore, it is also possible, that freshly hatched larvae are smaller in the tropical region. Adult lifespans of wild-caught individuals were found to be similar for both regions. Larger species were shown to have longer lifespans. Opposite to the predictions, the stable supply of adult food in the tropics (fruit and nectar) did not increase adult lifespans. Neither was income breeding strategy (i.e. breeding strategy depending on adult-derived resources) found to be more prevalent in the tropics than in temperate habitats. The results of this thesis suggest that host-plant specificity, longevity and breeding strategy are similar for the studied temperate and tropical moths. Quite opposite to expectations, the world the moths experience and the factors that shape their life histories may not be so different for the tropical and temperate zones after all.https://www.ester.ee/record=b5260160~S

A comprehensive molecular phylogeny of Geometridae (Lepidoptera) with a focus on enigmatic small subfamilies

Our study aims to investigate the relationships of the major lineages within the moth family Geometridae, with a focus on the poorly studied Oenochrominae-Desmobathrinae complex, and to translate some of the results into a coherent subfamilial and tribal level classification for the family. We analyzed a molecular dataset of 1,206 Geometroidea terminal taxa from all biogeographical regions comprising up to 11 molecular markers that includes one mitochondria) (COI) and 10 protein-coding nuclear gene regions (wingless, ArgK, MDH, RpS5, GAPDH, IDH, Ca-ATPase, Nex9, EF-1 alpha, CAD). The molecular data set was analyzed using maximum likelihood as implemented in IQ-TREE and RAxML. We found high support for the subfamilies Larentiinae, Geometrinae and Ennominae in their traditional scopes. Sterrhinae becomes monophyletic only if Ergavia Walker, Ametris Hubner and Macrotes Westwood, which are currently placed in Oenochrominae, are formally transferred to Sterrhinae. Desmobathrinae and Oenochrominae are found to be polyphyletic. The concepts of Oenochrominae and Desmobathrinae required major revision and, after appropriate rearrangements, these groups also form monophyletic subfamily-level entities. Oenochrominae s.str. as originally conceived by Guenee is phylogenetically distant from Epidesmia and its close relatives. The latter is hereby described as the subfamily Epidesmiinae Murillo-Ramos, Sihvonen & Brehm, subfam. nov. Epidesmiinae are a lineage of "slender-bodied Oenochrominae" that include the genera Ecphyas Turner, Systatica Turner, Adeixis Warren, Dichromodes Guenee, Phrixocomes Turner, Abraxaphantes Warren, Epidesmia Duncan & Westwood and Phrataria Walker. Archiearinae are monophyletic when Dirce and Acalyphes are formally transferred to Ennominae. We also found that many tribes were para- or polyphyletic and therefore propose tens of taxonomic changes at the tribe and subfamily levels. Archaeobalbini stat. rev. Viidalepp (Geometrinae) is raised from synonymy with Pseudoterpnini Warren to tribal rank. Chlorodontoperini Murillo-Ramos, Sihvonen & Brehm, trib. nov. and Drepanogynini Murillo-Ramos, Sihvonen & Brehm, trib. nov. are described as new tribes in Geometrinae and Ennominae, respectively.Peer reviewe

Data from: Reproductive behaviour indicates specificity in resource use: phylogenetic examples from temperate and tropical insects

Specificity (= the degree of ecological specialisation) is one of the fundamental concepts of the science of ecology. Ambiguities on how to define and measure specificity have however complicated respective research efforts. Here we propose that, in insects, a behavioural trait –adult oviposition latency in captivity without a favourable host plant – correlates with a species’ specificity in larval host use. In the absence of a suitable host, monophagous insects are expected to wait for a long time before commencing oviposition, with the long waiting time corresponding to careful host location behaviour in nature. Polyphagous insects, in contrast, should be selected for an increased oviposition rate at the expense of the quality of oviposition substrate encountered and will on average have a short latency time. Using experimentally derived data on oviposition latency, we performed a phylogenetically informed analysis based on Bayesian inference to show that this variable correlates with host specificity (larval diet breadth) in a sample of North-European species of geometrid moths. A closely related index – the probability to lay any eggs on an unfavourable substrate – shows an analogous pattern. To provide an example of how these indices can be applied, we compare our sample of geometrid moths from Northern Europe with a sample from equatorial Africa. A comparative analysis based on an original phylogenetic reconstruction found no differences between the two study sites in parameters of oviposition behaviour. We conclude that behavioural tests can provide information about ecological interactions when the latter cannot be directly recorded. Our example study also hints at the possibility that host specificity of herbivores is not necessarily higher in a tropical region compared to a temperate one

Opare_et_al_2023

   This data is for our study to evaluate the effect of two strains of Beauveria bassiana and two larval densities on the phenoloxidase activity and life history traits of black soldier fly larvae. We wanted to determine whether an entomopathogenic fungi challenge coupled with increased larval density will likely result in a potential trade-off with immune function.  </p

Recovery patterns in community composition of fruit‐feeding butterflies following 26 years of active forest restoration

Abstract Restoration of forests is now considered an essential tool to combat climate change and the global biodiversity decline. However, our understanding of how animal communities recover after restoration interventions in tropical forests is limited. Here, we aim to reveal the recovery patterns of fruit‐feeding butterfly communities across a large‐scale rainforest restoration area in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Our study represents a chronosequence resampling of fruit‐feeding butterfly communities across actively restored Afrotropical forest planted between 1995 and 2011 and primary forest reference sites. Sampling of 40 study sites was done first in the period 2011–2012 and again in the period 2020–2021 (including 5 new study sites), allowing a direct comparison of how communities have changed in nine years and to follow the progress of 26 years of active restoration. Fruit‐feeding butterfly community composition showed a directional pattern from the younger restored to older restored and primary forests. However, over the nine years, the similarity of community composition to primary forest increased only in younger restored forests. Furthermore, different characteristics of community structure and different diversity facets recovered at different paces. For example, the count of individuals, the count of species, and phylogenetic diversity increased in the restored forests; however, Simpson's diversity increased only in the older restored forest. Our study shows that active restoration can help fruit‐feeding butterfly communities become increasingly similar to communities found in primary forests, and such changes can be relatively fast in the early‐successional phases of tropical forests but slow down at later phases

Oviposition latency data for geometrid moths (Geometridae)

Oviposition latency data measured in the lab from field collected Geometridae females for Estonian and Ugandan species