Apparently they represent a combination of generalist adaptations that just plain works.
The overlap in carbohydrate availability and use by L. casei associated with plants or the gastrointestinal tract also supports the hypothesis that many strains from these environments should be viewed as ecological generalists, whereas adaptation to cheese has been accompanied by extensive genome decay that, ultimately, resulted in niche specialization [ 28].
It is relevant to important questions in evolutionary biology, including sympatric speciation, generalist versus specialist adaptation, and parasite-host co-evolution.
They also indicate the role hormesis may play in the adaptation of generalist herbivores to a variety of hostplants presenting different sets of chemical challenges.
Studies on the effect of tannins on the gut pH and redox potential of larvae found that many specialist and generalist insects have developed adaptations to cope with them [ 48, 49].
We would expect the same reasoning to apply to any generalist herbivore that has developed adaptations to several different plant toxins, only one of which may be encountered in an individual's lifetime.
For populations of R. leptorrhynchoides, periodic disturbance by fire may result in temporal variability in selection regimes that would lead to less local adaptation and selection for generalist genotypes with broad ecological tolerance.
A further point of interest will be to examine the degree to which invasive asclepiads have generalist pollination systems as a pre-adaptation to exploiting novel pollinators when invading new areas.
Therefore, the application of SNP chips, modern high-throughput sequencing techniques [ 63], and/or the establishment of new (nuclear) markers in a synthesis with phenotypic features and ecological adaptations (e.g., [ 12, 66]) will lead to a deeper understanding of the phylogeographic history and adaptations of this widespread generalist.
In order to gain a better insight into arthropod defenses against plant cyanogenesis, we used the two-spotted spider mite T. urticae as a generalist herbivore model in a host plant adaptation experiment.
