Role of dispersal in resistance evolution and spread

Authors: MILLER, NICHOLAS - Illinois Institute Of Technology; Sappington, Thomas

Submitted to: Current Opinion in Insect Science
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/28/2017
Publication Date: 6/13/2017
Citation: Miller, N.J., Sappington, T.W. 2017. Role of dispersal in resistance evolution and spread. Current Opinion in Insect Science. 21:68-74. doi: 10.1016/j.cois.2017.04.005.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Insect dispersal plays a pivotal role in both the evolution of insecticide resistance at a location, and in the rate and pattern of its spatial spread. While intuitively obvious, the dynamics of evolution and spread are complex and often difficult to characterize for a given species. Dispersal by individual insects is the fundamental process by which resistance genes move across a landscape. Overall, theory and the available data suggest the spatial and temporal distribution of resistance alleles is different depending on whether insect dispersal is spreading them among established populations or into new territory. In the former case, deterministic processes driven by selection, fitness costs and dominance appear to be central, whereas in the latter case, stochastic processes play a key role. One could argue that annual colonization of an agricultural field, or colonization by refuge insects of a Bt field cleared of conspecifics, are cases of invasion on an accelerated temporal and micro-spatial scale. Comparing the dynamics of resistance evolution or spread in the case of classical invasion versus annual colonization of crops could be instructive for improving our understanding of both. Large scale planting of Bt crops in concert with refuges to try and control evolution of resistance offers an unprecedented opportunity to conduct such studies with a number of species.