Original paper
Environmental heterogeneity drives population genetic divergence of a key agricultural pest, Empoasca onukii
Li, Jinyu; Shi, Longqing; Chen, Wei; Mao, Yi; Vasseur, Liette; Gurr, Geoff; You, Minsheng; You, Shijun
Entomologia Generalis Volume 43 Number 2 (2023), p. 305 - 313
published: May 25, 2023
published online: Mar 22, 2023
manuscript accepted: Jan 30, 2023
manuscript revision received: Jan 1, 2023
manuscript revision requested: Jul 27, 2022
manuscript received: May 26, 2022
DOI: 10.1127/entomologia/2023/1695
ArtNo. ESP146004302004, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
Genetic variance and functional connectivity are key for species resilience to environmental change. The tea green leafhopper Empoasca onukii has become the predominant and ubiquitous insect pest of tea in East Asia over the past decades, presenting an opportunity to explore associations between genetic variation/functional connectivity and environment. Here, we examined inter-population genetic differentiation of E. onukii, and explicitly quantified the contributions of geographic distance, environmental heterogeneity, and landscape barriers, using data from 1704 individuals from 56 locations in mainland China and offshore islands. Analyses showed a pattern of reduced gene flow and higher genetic differentiation across the mountainous region of Western China, and the islands of Taiwan and Hainan. Aside the expected influence of geographic distance and landscape barriers, climatic differences contributed more strongly to population divergence than geographic distance and landscape barriers. Additionally, population genetic diversity significantly increased with the amplitude of local temperature fluctuations. These results suggest that the spatial genetic structure of E. onukii is primarily shaped by climatic differences. The findings may explain the observed increasing outbreak frequency under climate change and suggest a potentially good adaptation and accelerating performance of E. onukii under more variable future temperatures. This situation may also apply to other arthropod pests that have become more problematic under climate change. More broadly, this study demonstrates the usefulness of molecular genetic approaches in addressing the effects of environmental heterogeneity on natural population genetic variation.
Keywords
climate change • adaptation • landscape genetics • evolution • population divergence