Member Symposium
Erik Dopman
Associate Professor
Tufts University
Medford, Massachusetts
Genevieve Kozak
University of Massachusetts
Melanie Unbehend
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
Jena, Thuringen, Germany
Fotini Koutroumpa
University of Amsterdam
Brad S. Coates
Research Geneticist
USDA-ARS
Ames, Iowa
Teun Dekker
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Astrid T. Groot
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
Amsterdam, NLD
David Heckel
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology
Jena, Thuringen, Germany
The European corn borer moth Ostrinia nubilalis is a model species for elucidating mechanisms underlying speciation and adaptation, and it is also a major pest of cultivated maize in North America and Eurasia. Subpopulations are characterized by different sex-pheromone communication systems, in addition to voltinism ecotypes differentially adapted to local climate conditions. However, only partial barriers to hybridization exist between sympatric subpopulations. Recent research shows that genes governing both axes of phenotypic divergence—pheromone and voltinism—are disproportionately located on the Z-chromosome. Results suggest the joint action of multiple, coincident barriers lead to levels of genomic differentiation that far exceed those of single barriers acting alone.