A comprehensive and cost-effective approach for investigating passive dispersal in minute invertebrates with case studies of phytophagous eriophyid mites.

Dispersal is a fundamental biological process that operates at different temporal and spatial scales with consequences for individual fitness, population dynamics, population genetics, and species distributions. Studying this process is particularly challenging when the focus is on microscopic organisms that disperse passively, whilst controlling neither the transience nor the settlement phase of their movement. In this work we propose a comprehensive approach for studying passive dispersal of microscopic invertebrates and demonstrate it using wind and phoretic vectors. The protocol includes the construction of versatile, modifiable dispersal tunnels as well as a theoretical framework quantifying the movement of species via wind or vectors, and a hierarchical Bayesian approach appropriate to the structure of the dispersal data. The tunnels were used to investigate the three stages of dispersal (viz., departure, transience, and settlement) of two species of minute, phytophagous eriophyid mites Aceria tosichella and Abacarus hystrix. The proposed devices are inexpensive and easy to construct from readily sourced materials. Possible modifications enable studies of a wide range of mite species and facilitate manipulation of dispersal factors, thus opening a new important area of ecological study for many heretofore understudied species.

Genetics of lineage diversification and the evolution of host usage in the economically important wheat curl mite, Aceria tosichella Keifer, 1969.

BACKGROUND: Understanding the mechanisms that underlie the diversification of herbivores through interactions with their hosts is important for their diversity assessment and identification of expansion events, particularly in a human-altered world where evolutionary processes can be exacerbated. We studied patterns of host usage and genetic structure in the wheat curl mite complex (WCM), Aceria tosichella, a major pest of the world's grain industry, to identify the factors behind its extensive diversification. RESULTS: We expanded on previous phylogenetic research, demonstrating deep lineage diversification within the taxon, a complex of distinctive host specialist and generalist lineages more diverse than previously assumed. Time-calibrated phylogenetic reconstruction inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequence data suggests that lineage diversification pre-dates the influence of agricultural practices, and lineages started to radiate in the mid Miocene when major radiations of C4 grasses is known to have occurred. Furthermore, we demonstrated that host specificity is not phylogenetically constrained, while host generalization appears to be a more derived trait coinciding with the expansion of the world's grasslands. Demographic history of specialist lineages have been more stable when compared to generalists, and their expansion pre-dated all generalist lineages. The lack of host-associated genetic structure of generalists indicates gene flow between mite populations from different hosts. CONCLUSIONS: Our analyses demonstrated that WCM is an unexpectedly diverse complex of genetic lineages and its differentiation is likely associated with the time of diversification and expansion of its hosts. Signatures of demographic histories and expansion of generalists are consistent with the observed proliferation of the globally most common lineages. The apparent lack of constrains on host use, coupled with a high colonization potential, hinders mite management, which may be further compromised by host range expansion. This study provides a significant contribution to the growing literature on host-association and diversification in herbivorous invertebrates.