Habitat Quality Differentiation and Consequences for Ecosystem Service Provision of an Amazonian Hyperdominant Tree Species.

Ecosystem services of Amazonian forests are disproportionally produced by a limited set of hyperdominant tree species. Yet the spatial variation in the delivery of ecosystem services by individual hyperdominant species across their distribution ranges and corresponding environmental gradients is poorly understood. Here, we use the concept of habitat quality to unravel the effect of environmental gradients on seed production and aboveground biomass (AGB) of the Brazil nut, one of Amazonia's largest and most long-lived hyperdominants.

Evidence for widespread cryptic sexual generations in apparently purely asexual Andricus gallwasps.

Oak gallwasps (Hymenoptera, Cynipidae, Cynipini) are one of seven major animal taxa that commonly reproduce by cyclical parthenogenesis (CP). A major question in research on CP taxa is the frequency with which lineages lose their sexual generations, and diversify as purely asexual radiations. Most oak gallwasp species are only known from an asexual generation, and secondary loss of sex has been conclusively demonstrated in several species, particularly members of the holarctic genus Andricus.

The phylogeographical clade trade: tracing the impact of human-mediated dispersal on the colonization of northern Europe by the oak gallwasp Andricus kollari.

Human dispersal of organisms is an important process modifying natural patterns of biodiversity. Such dispersal generates new patterns of genetic diversity that overlie natural phylogeographical signatures, allowing discrimination between alternative dispersal mechanisms. Here we use allele frequency and DNA sequence data to distinguish between alternative scenarios (unassisted range expansion and long range introduction) for the colonization of northern Europe by an oak-feeding gallwasp, Andricus kollari.

Out of Anatolia: longitudinal gradients in genetic diversity support an eastern origin for a circum-Mediterranean oak gallwasp Andricus quercustozae.

Many studies have addressed the latitudinal gradients in intraspecific genetic diversity of European taxa generated during postglacial range expansion from southern refugia. Although Asia Minor is known to be a centre of diversity for many taxa, relatively few studies have considered its potential role as a Pleistocene refugium or a potential source for more ancient westward range expansion into Europe. Here we address these issues for an oak gallwasp, Andricus quercustozae (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae), whose distribution extends from Morocco along the northern coast of the Mediterranean through Turkey to Iran.

Use of population genetic data to infer oviposition behaviour: species-specific patterns in four oak gallwasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae).

Many species of oak gallwasp (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae: Cynipini) induce galls containing more than one larva (multilocular galls) on their host plant. To date, it has remained unclear whether multilocular galls result solely from clustered oviposition by a single female, or include the aggregated offspring of several females (multiple founding). We have developed a novel maximum-likelihood approach for use with population genetic data that estimates the number and genotypes of parents contributing to offspring from each gall.

The population biology of oak gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae).

Oak gall wasps (Hymenoptera: Cynipidae, Cynipini) are characterized by possession of complex cyclically parthenogenetic life cycles and the ability to induce a wide diversity of highly complex species- and generation-specific galls on oaks and other Fagaceae. The galls support species-rich, closed communities of inquilines and parasitoids that have become a model system in community ecology. We review recent advances in the ecology of oak cynipids, with particular emphasis on life cycle characteristics and the dynamics of the interactions between host plants, gall wasps, and natural enemies.