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Predator-Prey Interactions

Predator-Prey Interactions

Predators consume prey for energy. Predators that acquire prey and prey that avoid predation both increase their chances of survival and reproduction (i.e., fitness). Routine predator-prey interactions elicit mutual adaptations that improve predator offenses, such as claws, teeth, and speed, as well as prey defenses, including crypsis, aposematism, and mimicry. Thus, predator-prey interactions resemble an evolutionary arms race.

Frequency-dependent Selection

Frequency-dependent Selection

When the fitness of a trait is influenced by how common it is (i.e., its frequency) relative to different traits within a population, this is referred to as frequency-dependent selection. Frequency-dependent selection may occur between species or within a single species. This type of selection can either be positive—with more common phenotypes having higher fitness—or negative, with rarer phenotypes conferring increased fitness.

Speciation Rates

Speciation Rates

Limits to Natural Selection

Limits to Natural Selection

Organisms that are well-adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. However, natural selection does not lead to perfectly adapted organisms. Several factors constrain natural selection.

Symbiosis

Symbiosis

Symbiotic relationships are long-term, close interactions between individuals of different species that affect the distribution and abundance of those species. When a relationship is beneficial to both species, this is called mutualism. When the relationship is beneficial to one species but neither beneficial nor harmful to the other species, this is called commensalism. When one organism is harmed to benefit another, the relationship is known as parasitism. These types of relationships often...

Types of Selection

Types of Selection

Natural selection influences the frequencies of particular alleles and phenotypes within populations in several different ways. Primarily, natural selection can be directional, stabilizing, or disruptive. Directional selection favors one extreme trait and shifts the population towards that phenotype while selecting against individuals displaying alternate traits. Stabilizing selection favors an intermediate trait with a narrow range of variation. Deviation from the optimal phenotype towards an...

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Identity of the native South American armored scale insect species (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Diaspididae) widely misidentified as the North American species <i>Diaspidiotus ancylus</i> Putnam.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 26, 2025

Harvesting Venom Toxins from Assassin Bugs and Other Heteropteran Insects

Harvesting Venom Toxins from Assassin Bugs and Other Heteropteran Insects

Published on: April 21, 2018

Nonadaptive host-use specificity in tropical armored scale insects.

Daniel A Peterson¹, Nate B Hardy², Geoffrey E Morse³

¹Department of Biology and Graduate Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology University of Massachusetts Amherst MA USA.

Ecology and Evolution

|December 11, 2020

Summary

Most herbivorous insects specialize on specific host plants, but this study found little evidence that this specialization is adaptive. Specialized armored scale insects were not more abundant than generalists, suggesting specialization may not confer a fitness advantage.

Keywords:

Diaspididae ecological specialization herbivory host range niche breadth polyphagy

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Entomology

Background:

Most herbivorous insects are diet specialists, a paradox given the potential benefits of generalism.
Existing hypotheses suggest fitness trade-offs or nonadaptive evolution via neutral processes and historical constraints.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the adaptiveness of diet specialization in tropical armored scale insects.
To determine if specialized species exhibit superior performance compared to generalists.

Main Methods:

Surveyed host use and abundance of hundreds of armored scale insect species across host plants at two tropical sites.
Analyzed host use patterns and their phylogenetic conservatism.

Main Results:

Confirmed pervasive diet specialization and phylogenetically conservative host use in armored scale insects.
Found no evidence that more-specialized species occur on fewer hosts or are more abundant than less-specialized species.
Observed no performance advantage for specialized species over generalists.

Conclusions:

The findings challenge the adaptive explanation for insect diet specialization.
Suggests that specialization in these tropical insects may not be driven by fitness advantages.
Highlights the need for further research into the evolutionary drivers of specialization.