Metapopulation genetic structure of two coexisting parasitoids of the Glanville fritillary butterfly

M. Kankare (1) , S. van Nouhuys (1, 2) , O.E Gaggiotti (3) , I. Hanski (1)

1 Division of Population Biology
2 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
3 LECA - Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine

We investigated the metapopulation genetic structure of two specialist parasitoids, Cotesia melitaearum and Hyposoter horticola, attacking the Glanville fritillary butterfly (Melitaea cinxia) in the Åland Islands south-western Finland. The host butterfly persists as a classic metapopulation in a network of 4,000 small habitat patches within an area of 50 by 70 km . The two parasitoids are known to differ greatly in their population dynamics and spatial pattern of occupancy in local host populations. Analysis of genetic population structure using FST and clustering of multilocus genotypes revealed a distinct large-scale spatial structure in C. melitaearum but a very weak pattern in H. horticola. This result is consistent with the known difference in the dispersal range (much longer in H. horticola) and population size (much greater in H. horticola) of the two parasitoids.

Mots clés: Cotesia; Dispersal; Hyposoter; Melitaea cinxia; Spatial structure

Domaines: Biodiversité et Ecologie; Biodiversité; Ecologie, Environnement

M. Kankare, S. van Nouhuys, O.E Gaggiotti, I. Hanski. Metapopulation genetic structure of two coexisting parasitoids of the Glanville fritillary butterfly. Oecologia, 2005, 143 (1), pp.77-84. ⟨10.1007/s00442-004-1782-1⟩. ⟨halsde-00276310⟩