HAS ADAPTATION TO NATIVE POPLARS AND WINTER COLD DRIVEN THE SPREAD OF INVASIVE SATIN MOTH

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: ACTIVE
• Funding Source: MCINTIRE-STENNIS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 0206611
• Project Start Date: Aug 15, 2006
• Project End Date: Sep 30, 2008
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
STATE UNIV OF NEW YORK
(N/A)
SYRACUSE,NY 13210

Performing Department
ENVIRONMENTAL & FOREST BIOLOGY

Non Technical Summary
Adaptive evolution is a poorly understood aspect of biological invasions yet may be instrumental in determining their success. This project will examine ecological changes in an invasive species since its introduction and will determine if they are attributable to evolution or, instead represent a broad tolerance for different habitats and environmental conditions

Animal Health Component

(N/A)

Research Effort Categories

Basic

100%

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
211	0699	1130	100%

Knowledge Area
211 - Insects, Mites, and Other Arthropods Affecting Plants;

Subject Of Investigation
0699 - Trees, forests, and forest products, general;

Field Of Science
1130 - Entomology and acarology;

Keywords

adaptive evolution

phenotypic plasticity

leucoma salicis

lymantriidae

biological invasions

populus

Goals / Objectives
This project is centered around two primary objectives. First, I will quantitatively compare and contrast (a) temperature tolerance and (b) host tree use among satin moth populations from across their invasive North American and native European ranges. Second, through a series of factorial experiments, I will estimate the contribution of adaptive evolution to the documented changes in geographic range and shifts in host species that have been recorded in North American populations since satin moth arrived 85 years ago.

Project Methods
Populations of satin moth from across its eastern invasive range (Northeast US and Canada) and western range (BC, AB, WY, ID, OR, CA, WA) will be collected and reared under standard conditions. Offspring of these individuals will be reared on native North American poplars as well as representative European and Asian poplars under controlled conditions. The performance of larvae from North American populations on each host will be contrasted with satin moth from Europe and Asia reared on the same poplars. These comparisons will be used to assess changes in the suitability of North American tree species for satin moth populations established here. These same satin moth populations will be used to examine overwintering cold temperature tolerance. An array of freezers will be set up at increments down to -30 Celcius and overwintering larvae from each population will be placed at these temperatures for set periods of time and their survival compared. This will reveal whether North American populations have evolved greater tolerance for low temperatures than their European ancestors which may explain their range expansion into northern Canada.

Progress 10/01/06 to 09/30/07

Outputs
OUTPUTS: As reported previously, recruitment of a suitable graduate student held up significant progress on this project. Thus, little funding was spent in the time period covered by this report. A graduate student was recruited and started work on this project in August 2007. We have begun to develop a molecular basis for separating different populations of satin moth, a necessary precursor for addressing the main objectives of the research. Primers have been developed and initial sequences obtained from PCR work. In summer 2008, we will begin the proposed ecological work on the populations we have characterized through molecular analysis. Collaboration with a chemical ecologist in British Columbia has led to the acquisition of a pheromone for satin moth. This will greatly facilitate our search for populations to sample, which has proved difficult using visual surveys or reports from state and provincial forest health agencies. PARTICIPANTS: Monica Phillips (SUNY-ESF) Graduate Student Kaylan Petrie (Syracuse University) Undergraduate Dr. Kari Seagraves (Syracuse University) Faculty - Insect Molecular Biologist Dr. Marek Tomlak Marek Tomalak - Department of Biological Control and Quarantine, Institute of Plant Protection Miczurina 20, 60-318 Poznan, Poland PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: No graduate student could be recruited in the first year of the project. Thus little of the proposed research could be conducted during the time period. An extension of 1 year was sought from the college. A graduate student began research on this project in the fall of 2007 and will follow the proposed timeline and tasks laid out in the proposal, but with a 1 yr delay. The addition of molecular work was not in the original proposal but was highly recommended by a reviewer. Ultimately, this will greatly strengthen our findings.

Impacts
One of the reviewers of the original proposal suggested that I should use molecular techniques to characterize the different (North American, European) populations. With collaboration from a molecular biologist, we developed primers and sequenced satin moth from several populations across North America and one from Europe. Initial results from PCR suggests that European (Poland) and North American (Alberta, Ontario, Nova Scotia) populations are different from a molecular standpoint. We will refine this further as we obtain more material from across the range of this insect.

Publications

• No publications reported this period

Progress 08/15/06 to 09/30/06

Outputs
Over the 6 week time span that the project has been active, I wrote and submitted all appropriate permit applications for the importation of insects from Canada. I also solicited colleagues around the United States and Canada for possible collection localities for satin moth populations that can be sampled to provide the necessary live material to conduct experiments. I was unsuccessful in recruiting a graduate student prior to the start date of the funding but have advertised nationally to fill the budgeted position.

Impacts
none yet

Publications

• No publications reported this period