Ryan James L, Clarke Anthony R, Piper Alexander M, Fuller Susan, Prentis Peter J
School of Biology and Environmental Science Queensland University of Technology Brisbane Queensland Australia.
Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy Queensland University of Technology Brisbane Queensland Australia.
Evol Appl. 2025 Apr 10;18(4):e70097. doi: 10.1111/eva.70097. eCollection 2025 Apr.
Landscape ecology and genetics provide important analytical frameworks for investigating the effect of environmental features on ecological processes. Few empirical studies, however, have simultaneously tested how landscape characteristics influence spatial patterns of gene flow and abundance of pest insects in heterogeneous environments. To address this, we undertook a combined landscape-ecology/landscape-genetic study of the tephritid fruit fly, , in the Wide Bay-Burnett region of Southeast Queensland, Australia. This region contains areas of rainforest, forest, cleared pasture, residential areas, and two areas of intensive horticulture production; one implementing area-wide management practices. We collected samples from 26 sites in 2021 during the months of April, August, October, December and the following year during February and April. We used high-density DArTseq SNP genotyping on samples collected during the 2021 April, August and December sampling periods. We then modelled the contemporary landscape characteristics and management factors influencing gene flow and abundance of this pest species. Genome-wide SNP analysis estimated infinite effective population sizes at all sites and detected limited genetic structure across the landscape. However, fly abundance varied significantly among habitats, with cleared pasture negatively associated with population abundance and acting as a barrier to gene flow. Additionally, highways in composite with cleared pasture exhibited a very strong barrier effect. Abundance was highest in residential areas and rainforest, lowest in forest, and reduced in the horticultural region with area-wide management implemented. We discuss the benefits of collecting simultaneous genetic and ecological datasets for informing and evaluating area-wide management programmes for insect pests and highlight considerations in the spatial analysis of SNP data when effective population sizes are extremely large.
景观生态学和遗传学为研究环境特征对生态过程的影响提供了重要的分析框架。然而，很少有实证研究同时检验景观特征如何在异质环境中影响害虫昆虫的基因流空间格局和丰度。为了解决这个问题，我们对澳大利亚昆士兰州东南部宽湾-伯内特地区的实蝇科果蝇进行了一项景观生态学/景观遗传学的综合研究。该地区包括雨林区、桉树林区、开垦的牧场、居民区以及两个集约化园艺生产区；其中一个实施区域综合管理措施。我们在2021年4月、8月、10月、12月以及次年2月和4月从26个地点采集了样本。我们对2021年4月、8月和12月采样期间采集的样本进行了高密度DArTseq SNP基因分型。然后，我们对影响这种害虫物种基因流和丰度的当代景观特征和管理因素进行了建模。全基因组SNP分析估计了所有地点的无限有效种群大小，并检测到整个景观中有限的遗传结构。然而，果蝇丰度在不同栖息地之间存在显著差异，开垦的牧场与种群丰度呈负相关，并成为基因流的障碍。此外，与开垦牧场结合的高速公路表现出非常强的屏障效应。居民区和雨林中的丰度最高，桉树林区最低，在实施区域综合管理的园艺区丰度降低。我们讨论了同时收集遗传和生态数据集以指导和评估害虫区域综合管理计划的好处，并强调了在有效种群大小极大时SNP数据空间分析中的注意事项。
