Although biological invasion has a devastating impact on biodiversity, it also provides a valuable opportunity for natural experiments on evolutionary responses. Alien populations are often subject to strong natural selection when they are exposed to new abiotic and biotic conditions. Native populations can also undergo strong selection when interacting with introduced enemies and competitors. This special feature aims to highlight how evolutionary studies take advantage of biological invasion and, at the same time, emphasizes how studying evolutionary processes deepens our understanding of biological invasions. We hope this special feature stimulates more invasion studies taking evolutionary processes into account. Those studies should provide fundamental information essential for formulating effective measures in conserving native biodiversity, as well as valuable empirical tests for evolutionary theories.
A wild bean weevil, Kytorhinus sharpianus Bridwell (Coleoptera: Bruchidae), has a multivoltine life cycle and enters a hibernal larval diapause at the fourth instar under a short daylength (Shimada & Ishihara, 1991). Here, we investigated their diapause incidence under different photoperiods at 24 °C and 27 °C. The critical photoperiods for diapause induction were 14.5 h at 24 °C and 14 h at 27 °C. The stages susceptible to diapause‐inducing stimuli were estimated by transferring larvae of various instars from long days to short days and vice versa. Then we investigated the incidence of larval diapause. The sensitive stage was estimated to be from the third to early fourth instar. Though larval diapause, which was induced under a short daylength, was terminated only by increasing the daylength, the termination was more synchronized by an exposure to a low temperature followed by increasing temperature, irrespective of photoperiod.
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