Great talk by @rona-learmonth.bsky.social at #BES2025 on the absence of small scale local adaptation by winter moths to oak tree bud burst. Read more in this preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Our study demonstrates that close synchrony between winter moths and oaks can be maintained at fine spatial scales without strong local adaptation, advancing our understanding of mechanisms maintaining synchrony - and how they may respond to climate change
Our whole-genome sequencing of 59 individuals revealed no detectable genetic structure across the population 🧬
Translocation of winter moth clutches to trees with up to 13 days difference in budburst revealed no fitness differences - suggesting buffering mechanisms may weaken selection on mismatch.
Our common garden temperature manipulation experiments of 76 clutches showed strikingly consistent relative hatching phenology linked to maternal carry-over effects - but no association with source tree timing 🌳
We use an integrative approach, combining temperature manipulations, translocation experiments, and whole genome sequencing to investigate the mechanisms maintaining fine-scale synchrony between insect herbivore egg hatching and host tree budburst.
New preprint! 🌳🐛
We combined experimental and genomic methods to study local adaptation of winter moths to variation in oak budburst timing in Wytham Woods, UK.
With @andreaestandia.bsky.social, Lea Beaupere, Ella Cole, and @sheldonbirds.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Last week of winter moth trapping along the Phenoweb transect between Edinburgh and Inverness. We aim to study the spatial scale of local adaptation to oak phenology 🦋🌳🧬
with @rona-learmonth.bsky.social, @allyphillimore.bsky.social, @nilomr.bsky.social (and @sheldonbirds.bsky.social back in Oxford)
