Carroll Scott P, Loye Jenella E, Dingle Hugh, Mathieson Michael, Famula Thomas R, Zalucki Myron P
Department of Entomology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Department of Integrative Biology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia.
Ecol Lett. 2005 Sep;8(9):944-951. doi: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2005.00800.x. Epub 2005 Jul 5.
The increased demographic performance of biological invaders may often depend on their escape from specifically adapted enemies. Here we report that native taxa in colonized regions may swiftly evolve to exploit such emancipated exotic species because of selection caused by invaders. A native Australian true bug has expanded it host range to include a vine imported from tropical America that has become a serious environmental weed. Based on field comparisons and historical museum specimens, we show that over the past 30-40 years, seed feeding soapberry bugs have evolved 5-10% longer mouthparts, better suited to attack the forest-invading balloon vines, which have large fruits. Laboratory experiments show that these differences are genetically based, and result in a near-doubling of the rate at which seeds are attacked. Thus a native biota that initially permits invasion may rapidly respond in ways that ultimately facilitate control.
生物入侵者在种群数量上的增加往往可能取决于它们摆脱了特别适应的天敌。在此我们报告，由于入侵者所造成的选择，被殖民地区的本地分类群可能会迅速进化以利用这些获得解放的外来物种。一种澳大利亚本土的椿象已经扩大了其寄主范围，将一种从热带美洲引进的藤蔓植物纳入其中，而这种藤蔓植物已成为一种严重的环境杂草。基于野外比较和历史博物馆标本，我们发现，在过去30至40年里，以种子为食的皂荚虫口器进化得长了5%至10%，更适合攻击入侵森林的气球藤，因为这种藤有大果实。实验室实验表明，这些差异是基于遗传的，并且导致攻击种子的速度几乎翻倍。因此，一个最初允许入侵的本地生物区系可能会迅速做出最终有利于控制入侵的反应。
