Meeting Abstract
Intraspecific variation in venom is hypothesized to be adaptive yet conceptual frameworks for testing this idea are lacking. Here, we draw on approaches developed in other fields of biology to develop these frameworks for functional tests of the functional and adaptive significance of (1) Individual protein composition of whole venom and (2) Widely-documented geographic variation in whole venom diversity. In terms of whole venom composition, we present a qualitative model of the “cabal” hypothesis for venom composition and draw on techniques developed for evaluating multi-drug antibiotic resistance in bacteria to propose how to experimentally assess functional interactions between individual venom proteins in terms of their effects on targets. To evaluate the evolutionary significance of geographic variation in venom, we argue that using a conceptual framework for evaluating local adaptation is essential. In particular, fully-crossed reciprocal comparisons of venom effectiveness on sympatric (local) and allopatric (non-local) targets are important because prey are key components of the environmental heterogeneity encountered by a venomous species. Variation in prey resistance may also be revealed in this way, extending this conceptual framework for the study of coevolutionary interactions between venomous animals and their prey. We provide examples of how these approaches can be applied from our own and published work.
