Evidence from a specialist parasitic insect supports range expansion of cultivated sunchoke (Helianthus tuberosus) in the Eastern Agricultural Complex

Alaine C Hippee; Scott M Geib; Wren Renquist; Sheina B Sim; Christian L Weinrich; Natalie G Mueller; Andrew Kitchen; Andrew A Forbes

doi:10.1098/rspb.2025.3044

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Evidence from a specialist parasitic insect supports range expansion of cultivated sunchoke (Helianthus tuberosus) in the Eastern Agricultural Complex

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Evidence from a specialist parasitic insect supports range expansion of cultivated sunchoke (Helianthus tuberosus) in the Eastern Agricultural Complex

Alaine C Hippee, Scott M Geib, Wren Renquist, Sheina B Sim, Christian L Weinrich, Natalie G Mueller, Andrew Kitchen and Andrew A Forbes

Proceedings of the Royal Society B : Biological Sciences, Vol.293(2066), 20253044

03/04/2026

DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2025.3044

PMID: 41784411

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Abstract

A suite of plants, the Eastern Agricultural Complex (EAC), was domesticated in North America beginning around 4000 YBP by Indigenous peoples. At the time of European colonization, another plant, the sunchoke (Helianthus tuberosus), was in wide cultivation. It is unknown whether this sunflower species was intentionally moved around the continent along with the EAC plants or if instead sunchoke was already widespread and experienced separate and independent cases of local husbandry and cultivation. Evidence of a sunchoke range expansion coincident with the timing of the EAC would support a hypothesis of intentional anthropogenic movement. For plants like H. tuberosus, genome complexity makes direct inferences of historical demography from plant genetic data difficult. Therefore, we use a specialist insect parasite of sunchoke, the fly Strauzia longitudinalis (Loew), to test a hypothesis of sunchoke range expansion. Using reduced-representation sequencing data, demographic models suggest S. longitudinalis from western sites split from flies in the Ohio Valley and further east approximately 6850-2700 YBP, overlapping the timing of the EAC. Further, several metrics of genetic diversity and differentiation implicate the Ohio Valley as a pre-cultivation range for sunchoke. These findings are consistent with a hypothesis of anthropogenic range expansion for sunchoke in North America.

North America

Animals

Crops, Agricultural

Diptera - physiology

Genetic Variation

Helianthus - genetics

Helianthus - parasitology

Details

Title: Subtitle: Evidence from a specialist parasitic insect supports range expansion of cultivated sunchoke (Helianthus tuberosus) in the Eastern Agricultural Complex
Creators: Alaine C Hippee - University of Iowa
Scott M Geib - United States Department of Agriculture
Wren Renquist - University of Iowa
Sheina B Sim - United States Department of Agriculture
Christian L Weinrich - University of Iowa
Natalie G Mueller - Washington University in St. Louis
Andrew Kitchen - University of Iowa
Andrew A Forbes - University of Iowa
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Proceedings of the Royal Society B : Biological Sciences, Vol.293(2066), 20253044
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2025.3044
PMID: 41784411
NLM abbreviation: Proc Biol Sci
ISSN: 1471-2954
eISSN: 1471-2954
Publisher: ROYAL SOC
Grant note: Agricultural Research Service Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences National Institute of Food and Agriculture Iowa Academy of Science University of Iowa Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research
Language: English
Date published: 03/04/2026
Academic Unit: Anthropology; International Programs; Biology; University College Courses
Record Identifier: 9985141898902771

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