Hi everyone, We are writing because we are hoping for help finding data. Specifically, we are interested in investigating species interactions and natural selection across broad geographical areas in the gall forming fly Eurosta solidaginis. Many colleges and universities throughout the eastern United States and Canada have used this system in undergraduate laboratory courses to illustrate directional and stabilizing natural selection.
We suspect there are a lot of unpublished data that can be compiled to gain a better understanding of how the strength and direction of selection varies across broad geographic areas. Please write if you have access to and are willing to share one of the following types of data: (1) The average strength of species interactions (proportion of galls attack by each enemy: Eurytoma gigantea, Eurytoma obtusiventris, Mordellistena sp., downy woodpeckers, chickadees) and variance standardized selection gradients/differentials acting on Eurosta gall size (diameter), including their standard errors if possible. We would also need a location of the collection (coordinates or an approximate area), and a rough time (month and year) that the collection was taken. (2) If possible, we prefer raw data. This would mean having a dataset that includes the size (diameter) and fate (attacked by enemy X or Y or survived) of each gall, from which selection coefficients can be calculated. Again, we would also like to know the time and place that the collection occurred. Any additional data on environmental correlates (population sizes & densities, climatic data, landscape features, etc.) would be an appreciated bonus. If you’re able to help out please respond to [email protected]. Thanks! Denon Start, Art Weis, Ben Gilbert, & Adam Siepielski
