Genetics of Host Affiliation in Herbivorous Beetles         (Chrysomelidae)
{'Code': '08010207', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'BIO', 'LongName': 'Direct For Biological Sciences'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'DEB', 'LongName': 'Division Of Environmental Biology'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Gregory J. McCants', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
Hundreds of thousands of species of insects feed on plants.                Most of these species, including most the small minority that are               serious pests of crops and timber, are highly host-specific in                  respect of the kinds of plants on which they feed.  The evolution               of any feature, such as preference for a particular food plant,                 requires that there has existed genetic variation in that                       feature.  Therefore, understanding why particular host plant                    insect herbivore associations have evolved can be provided by                   assaying the genetic variation within insect populations for                    those features associated with successful use of a particular                   species of plants.                                                                   Dr. Futuyma will work with species of Ophraella, a group of                beetles in which each species is associated only with one or                    another genus of plants in the sunflower family (Asteraceae).                   This research is among the first attempts to determine whether                  historical evolutionary events that can be deduced from                         phylogenetic studies can be predicted at all from genetic                       analyses of contemporaneous species.  As such, it seeks to                      synthesize two very different research programs in evolutionary                 biology - deduction of evolutionary history and genetic analysis                of evolutionary processes.  More particularly, it addresses the                 question of whether or not genetic analysis can shed light on why               insect species have adapted to some plants rather than others.                       This work also has implications for the management of crop                 and timber pests.  The present research can serve as a model for                assays of genetic variation in insects that may enable crop                     entomologists to predict the likelihood that insects may become                 pests, even if at first they are not.
{'FirstName': 'Walter', 'LastName': 'Eanes', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'F', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Walter F Eanes', 'EmailAddress': 'walter@life.bio.sunysb.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000222705', 'StartDate': '06/29/1993', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
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{'Code': '1127', 'Text': 'Evolutionary Processes'}
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