Crucial factors determining the spatio-temporal distribution patterns of threeAthalia sawflies feeding on common cruciferous plants

Summary ThreeAthalia sawflies,A. japonica, A. rosae andA. infumata, feeding on cruciferous plants, coexist in Japan. However, it is not known what ecological strategies they use and what environmental factors are crucial to such strategies. I attempted to explain these questions by examining the relationship between the spatio-temporal distribution patterns of threeAthalia sawflies and their habitats in three districts (Lowland, Intermediate and Mountain). The three sawflies have different spatio-temporal distribution patterns, though they usually used common cruciferous plants.A. japonica was abundant in spring and autumn but disappeared during summer in all the districts. In the Lowland, populations ofA. rosae andA. infumata, like that ofA. japonica, crashed in summer. HoweverA. rosae occurred mainly in summer in the Intermediate and Mountain. AlthoughA. infumata occurred in the same seasons asA. rosae in all districts, population levels ofA. infumata were always lower than those ofA. rosae. The crucial factors controlling their population patterns were the availability of host plants and temperature. Population crashes ofA. rosae andA. infumata were due to food depletion, and those ofA. japonica were due to heat stress. On the other hand, their population patterns may be interpreted as phenological synchronization with their original host plants, though they all existed on common cruciferous plants. The three sawflies may have evolved different strategies to escape from unfavorable habitat conditions. Such strategies are speculated to be summer diapause inA. japonica, long distance migration inA. rosae, and local dispersal inA. infumata.     

Why does onlyAthalia Japonica enter summer diapause among three sympatricAthalia sawflies feeding on crucifers?

Summary This report assesses the primary factor for the evolution of summer diapause of the three species of sawfly,Athalia japonica, A. rosae andA. infumata that feed on cruciferous plants and coexist in the same area.A. japonica has two discrete spring and autumn generations, butA. rosae andA. infumata 5–6 generations. OnlyA. japonica enters summer diapause in response to the long daylengths in spring. Although these three sawflies usually feed on the same cultivated crucifers, they differ markedly in the utilization of wild crucifers. They oviposit only on young leaves.A. japonica mainly usesCardamine plants which sprout in spring and autumn.A. rosae andA. infumata primarily use hosts with new leaves all the year round, i.e. cultivated crucifers andRorippa indica, respectively. The thermal threshold for development is lower inA. japonica than in the other two species. The low heat tolerance ofA. japonica is adapted only to cool shady habitats whereCardamine grows. Presumably, summer diapause ofA. japonica is adaptation to the deterioration of the primary host plants rather than unfavorable climatic conditions. This interpretation is supported by the movement patterns of the threeAthalia sawflies, alternative means to escape from deteriorated habitat conditions.     

Movement patterns of threeAthalia sawflies in relation to the spatio-temporal distributions of their habitats

Summary I compared the differences in the movement intensity of three species of sympatricAthalia sawflies,A. japonica, A. rosae andA. infumata feeding on cruciferous plants. Mark-release-recapture census was conducted to estimate movement distance, sex ratio and age composition of adult sawflies. In addition, the sex ratio of newlyemerged adults was examined by rearing field-collected larvae until adult emergence. Age composition and longevity of adults were estimated experimentally. The movement intensity was evaluated mostly with the indirect information thus obtained. Females moved more actively than males in all three sawflies.A. japonica females of all age classes moved actively in spring and autumn, but in summer they disappeared. Also,A. rosae females of all age classes moved actively in spring and autumn. In summer, in contrast withA. japonica, A. rosae females moved most actively among the three species in all seasons.A. infumata females, in particular the young females, moved most actively among the three species, exceptA rosae in summer. The movement patterns of the three sawflies were deduced in relation to the spatio-temporal distributions of their habitats. In spring and autumn, when host plants were abundant,A. japonica andA. rosae females were dispersed among the host patches within the census are. In summer, however, when host plants were scarce,A. japonica entered diapause, whereasA. rosae migrated to neighboring areas. On the other hand,A. infumata, in particular young famale, innately dispersed to seek for temporary host plants throughout the census seasons.     

Warning coloration in sawflyAthalia rosae larva and concealing coloration in butterflyPieris rapae larva feeding on similar plants evolved through individual selection

Summary Green larvae of the butterflyPieris rapae and black larvae of the sawflyAthalia rosae feed on green leaves of the same cruciferous plants. To demonstrate thatP. rapae has concealing coloration and thatA. rosae has warning coloration, the larvae of the two species were supplied to naive chicksGallus gallus on white, green or black backgrounds.P. rapae larvae were palatable and their green body color acted as a concealing coloration. On the other hand,A. rosae larvae were unpalatable and their black body color acted as a warning coloration. There is a general consensus that warning coloration is an altruistic character which needs victims, and thus can evolve through kin selection or green beard selection. However, blackA. rosae larvae were seldom injured by chicks' attack, in particular, on the green background. Therefore, the warning coloration ofA. rosae larvae can be a selfish character and hence can evolve through individual selection as well as concealing coloration ofP. rapae.