QUANTIFYING CONTEXT-DEPENDENT OUTCOMES OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN <italic>SILENE STELLATA</italic> (CARYOPHYLLACEAE) AND ITS POLLINATING SEED PREDATOR, <italic>HADENA ECTYPA</italic> (NOCTUIDAE), A POTENTIAL MUTUALIST

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dc.contributor.advisorDudash, Michele Ren_US
dc.contributor.advisorFenster, Charles Ben_US
dc.contributor.authorKula, Abigail Rogersen_US
dc.contributor.departmentBehavior, Ecology, Evolution and Systematicsen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2012-07-07T05:34:17Z
dc.date.available2012-07-07T05:34:17Z
dc.date.issued2012en_US
dc.description.abstractInteractions with variable outcomes are particularly useful in allowing for the exploration of ecological conditions that give rise to and allow persistence of mutualistic interactions. Understanding the context and conditions under which outcomes of mutualistic interactions vary is critical to understanding their ecology. Of insect-plant mutualisms, pollination by pollinating seed predators is a unique interaction in which flowers and fruits are food for the pollinator's young, and outcomes range from obligate (e.g., figs-fig wasps) to facultative (e.g., <italic>Silene-Hadena</italic>). The facultative nature of <italic>Silene-Hadena</italic> interactions makes them ideal for a study of the role of ecological conditions in determining interaction outcomes and consequently may inform us of the conditions promoting mutualisms. My goals were to explore variation in the interaction outcome between Silene stellata and its pollinating seed predator, <italic>Hadena ectypa</italic>, under different ecological conditions and, in addition, to understand the role of plant traits in attracting oviposition and the role of oviposition in determining interaction outcomes. My research demonstrates that plants with longer corolla tubes had higher oviposition rates in each year, and I observed significant positive relationships between oviposition and predation and oviposition and fruit initiation. Further, this interaction is antagonistic for spatially isolated plants because low pollination levels of isolated plants resulted in lowered seed set compared with non-isolated plants, and predation was significantly higher for isolated plants. Finally, the magnitude of phenological synchrony between <italic>S. stellata</italic> flowering and <italic>H. ectypa</italic> oviposition and the effect of synchrony on flower and fruit predation varied between seasons. This interannual variability in the effect of synchrony on predation may be attributed to significant differences in within season patterns of flowering and oviposition. My research demonstrates a link between oviposition and host plant traits, the role of oviposition in host plant reproduction and the identification of two ecological scenarios under which the interaction outcomes between <italic>S. stellata</italic> and <italic>H. ectypa</italic> vary. This variation under different ecological scenarios, along with positive relationships between oviposition and both predation and fruit initiation, demonstrates a mechanism for the persistence of this interaction and other facultative pollinating seed predator interactions.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/12597
dc.subject.pqcontrolledEcologyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolleddensityen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrollednursery pollinationen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledovipositionen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledphenologyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledplant-insect interactionsen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledpollinationen_US
dc.titleQUANTIFYING CONTEXT-DEPENDENT OUTCOMES OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN <italic>SILENE STELLATA</italic> (CARYOPHYLLACEAE) AND ITS POLLINATING SEED PREDATOR, <italic>HADENA ECTYPA</italic> (NOCTUIDAE), A POTENTIAL MUTUALISTen_US
dc.typeDissertationen_US

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