DOI: 10.5061/dryad.3s85r
title: Data from: The susceptibility of Echinacea angustifolia to a specialist aphid: eco-evolutionary perspective on genotypic variation and demographic consequences

description: 1. Plants and their herbivores may influence each other's fitness
 and, hence, genetic dynamics, as well as their demography. Conversely,
 variation in fitness-related traits may influence the occurrence or
 intensity of the interaction. Disentangling the fitness consequences of an
 interaction in nature from the influence of fitness variation on it is
 challenging, but important to clarifying the ecological and evolutionary
 dynamics of plants with their herbivores. 2. As part of a larger effort to
 elucidate eco-evolutionary dynamics in a population of Echinacea
 angustifolia that is subject to severe fragmentation, we initiated an
 experiment in 2001 to evaluate differences in fitness among plants of
 three genotypic classes resulting from matings of plants from different
 remnant populations (‘between’, B), plants randomly chosen from the same
 remnant (‘within’, W) and maternal siblings (‘inbreds’, I). The experiment
 was planted into a field undergoing restoration to a prairie community.
 Fitness components of individual plants were recorded through 2012. During
 2004–2010, each plant was also monitored for its load of Aphis echinaceae,
 a specialist insect herbivore. 3. Within a season, aphid-load depended
 consistently on a plant's location and on its load the previous
 season. Further, flowering individuals generally harboured more aphids
 than non-flowering plants. In analyses of overall plant fitness, within
 each genotypic class, fitness was greatest for plants with the greatest
 aphid-loads, consistent with the preference of aphids for flowering
 individuals. Inbreeding depression was severe, with I plants producing 60%
 fewer achenes than W or B plants, and varied with aphid-load. To
 distinguish the role of aphid choice from the effect of aphid herbivory in
 the relationship between plant fitness and aphid-load, we evaluated how
 components of fitness varied with prior aphid-load. Notably, genotype I
 plants with high aphid-loads the previous year produced far fewer achenes
 per flower head than those that carried fewer aphids. 4. Synthesis.
 Sibmating reduces individuals’ demographic contribution by 60% over the
 first 12 years. Outbred individuals tolerate this aphid; each produces on
 average about 200 achenes per head in a year, despite a heavy aphid-load
 the previous year. However, inbreeding, which is greater in severely
 fragmented prairie habitat, results in poor tolerance. Aphid herbivory
 exacerbates inbreeding depression, further reducing the contribution of
 those individuals to population growth. This study illustrates an approach
 that helps to distinguish fitness-dependent attraction of herbivores from
 the effects of herbivory on plant fitness and demography, a goal that is
 critically important to eco-evolutionary understanding.
description: inbreedingsPedigreeCrossLevel.csvPedigree of plants in experiment inb1. See readMe2015-05-05.txtinbreedingsHdInsectsDamage.csvInsects and damage to heads and stems on plants in experiment inb1. See readMe2015-05-05.txtinbreedingsFitnessInsectsDamageTo2013.csvTraits of plants in inb1 experiment 2001- 2013. See readMe2015-05-05.txtInbreedingCoreData04_21_2014.csvAnnual fitness components of plants in inb1 experiment 2001 - 2013. See readMe2015-05-05.txtinb1D.csvInformation about plants in inb1 experiment 2001 - 2008. See readMe2015-05-05.txtechinacea.c1.inb1.aphids.csvAnnual aphid abundance per plant inb1 2004-2013. See readMe2015-05-05.txtR script aphidsOnEchinaceaInb1_2015-05-05.Rsee readMe2015-05-05.txtaphidsOnEchinaceaInb1_2015-05-05.RR script inb1aphids-120614sw.Rsee readMe2015-05-05.txtinb1aphids-120614sw.RR script echinacea.inb1.herbivory.asterVisualize3.Rsee readMe2015-05-05.txtechinacea.inb1.herbivory.asterVisualize3.Rbarf.RDataTemporary input/output file with an R data frame. See readMe2015-05-05.txtbars.RDataTemporary input/output file with an R data frame. See readMe2015-05-05.txt.fred.RDataTemporary input/output file with an R data frame. See readMe2015-05-05.txtreadMe2015-05-05.txtDescriptions of all files including metadata.