Judith Bronstein

Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Professor, Entomology / Insect Science - GIDP

University Distinguished Professor

Professor, BIO5 Institute

Member of the General Faculty

Member of the Graduate Faculty

Primary Department

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Department Affiliations

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

BIO5 Institute

Contact

(520) 621-3534

judieb@arizona.edu

Research Interest

Judith L. Bronstein is University Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, with a joint appointment in the Department of Entomology. Dr. Bronstein’s large, active lab focuses on the ecology and evolution of interspecific interactions, particularly on the poorly-understood, mutually beneficial ones (mutualisms). Using a combination of field observations, experiments, and theory, they are examining how population processes, abiotic conditions, and the community context determine net effects of interactions for the fitness of each participant species. Specific conceptual areas of interest include: (i) conflicts of interest between mutualists and their consequences for the maintenance of beneficial outcomes; (ii) the causes and consequences of "cheating" within mutualism; (iii) context-dependent outcomes in both mutualisms and antagonisms; and (iv) anthropogenic threats to mutualisms. In addition, she is Editor-in-Chief of The American Naturalist, a leading international journal in ecology and evolution. An award-winning instructor, Dr. Bronstein teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate levels; she has also run a large training grant administered by BIO5 that places life sciences graduate students in public school classrooms around Tucson. She serves in leadership positions in the College of Science (including chairing the College of Science Promotion and Tenure Committee for 2013), at the University, and at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, where she is a member of the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Science and Conservation Council.

Publications

Plant biotic interactions in the Sonoran Desert: Current knowledge and future research perspectives

Bronstein, J., Franklin, K., Sommers, P., Aslan, C., Lopez, B., Bustamante, E., Burquez, A., Medellin, R., & Marazzi, B. (2015). Plant biotic interactions in the Sonoran Desert: Current knowledge and future research perspectives. International Journal of Plant Sciences.

Limits to fruit production in a monoecious fig: consequences of an obligate mutualism

Bronstein, J. L. (1988). Limits to fruit production in a monoecious fig: consequences of an obligate mutualism. Ecology, 69(1), 207-214.

Abstract:

The Costa Rican fig tree, Ficus pertusa, is pollinated by a species-specific wasp (Agaonidae) whose female offspring transfer pollen between trees. Pollination success (the proportion of inflorescences pollinated) ranged from 1-100% and averaged only 65%. Resource availability evidently was limiting to fruit set as well: every crop abscised many inflorescences at a predictable point during growth. This abscission period usually preceded the brief but variably timed period of pollinator arrivals; in most cases every pollinated, undamaged inflorescence set fruit. Fruit abortion would not be expected in plants that evolved under conditions of pollen limitation; although pollinators have been thought to be overabunadnt in highly coevolved pollination mutualisms, figs' unique flowering phenology may in fact make pollen limitation common. The fact that future pollen carriers as well as seeds mature within fruits may also help explain these unusual fruit maturation patterns. -from Author

Spatial and temporal variation in frugivory at a Neotropical fig, Ficus pertusa.

Bronstein, J. L., & Hoffmann, K. (1987). Spatial and temporal variation in frugivory at a Neotropical fig, Ficus pertusa.. Oikos, 49(3), 261-268.

Abstract:

A total of 26 species of birds in 10 families took F. pertusa fruit. Visitors' identity, abundance, and importance (estimated by an index of the number of fruits removed) all varied among trees and over time for individual trees. Compared with its obligate, species-specific pollination mutualism, F. pertusa's highly variable interactions with its present-day disperser assemblage are less likely to be products of coevolution. -from Authors

Natural history of Anidarnes bicolor (Hymenoptera: Agaonidae), a galler of the Florida strangling fig (Ficus aurea)

Bronstein, J. L. (1999). Natural history of Anidarnes bicolor (Hymenoptera: Agaonidae), a galler of the Florida strangling fig (Ficus aurea). Florida Entomologist, 82(3), 454-461.

Abstract:

The natural history of Anidarnes bicolor (Ashmead) Boucek (Hymenoptera: Agaonidae: Sycophaginae), a host-specific galler of the Florida strangling fig (Ficus aurea, Moraceae), is described. A. bicolor females oviposit through the outside of the globular fig inflorescence; offspring feed on sterile tissue within galls induced on the inner wall of fig. Oviposition coincides with entry of the pollinators (Pegoscapus mexicanus; Hymenoptera: Agaonidae: Agaoninae) into the fig, and does not interfere with pollination. Pollinator presence is in fact crucial to A. bicolor success, because unpollinated, galled figs are aborted by the tree. However, A. bicolor may nevertheless reduce pollinator success: maturation of pollinator offspring appears to be negatively affected by the developing A. bicolor galls. Although the composition of the wasp community associated with the native Florida figs is relatively well-known, this is one of the first studies of the natural history of one of the non-pollinator species.

Temporal structure in cooperative interactions: what does the timing of exploitation tell us about its cost?

Bronstein, J., & Barker, J. (2015). Temporal structure in cooperative interactions: what does the timing of exploitation tell us about its cost?. PLoS Biology.

Judith Bronstein