Ability to gall: the ultimate basis of host specificity in fig wasps?

1. Fig trees (Ficus spp.) and their host‐specific pollinator fig wasps (Agaonidae) are partners in an obligate mutualism. Receptive phase figs release specific volatiles to attract their pollinators, and this is generally effective in preventing pollinator species from entering figs of the wrong hosts. 2. If entry is attempted into atypical host figs, then ostiole size and shape and style length may also prevent reproduction. In spite of these barriers, there is increasing evidence that fig wasps enter atypical hosts, and that this can result in hybrid seed and fig wasp offspring. 3. This study examines the basis of pollinator specificity in two dioecious fig species from different geographical areas. Kradibia tentacularis pollinates Ficus montana in Asia. Ficus asperifolia from East Africa is closely related but is pollinated by a different species of Kradibia. 4. In glasshouses, K. tentacularis was attracted to its normal host, F1s and backcrosses, but only rarely entered figs of F. asperifolia. Foundresses were able to lay eggs in hybrids, backcrosses, and F. asperifolia, although flower occupancy was lowest in F. asperifolia figs and intermediate in hybrids. 5. The fig wasp failed to reproduce in female F. montana, male F. asperifolia, and male F1s, and most but not all backcrosses to F. montana. This was a result of the failure to initiate gall production. 6. Host specificity in this fig wasp is strongly influenced by host volatiles, but the ability to gall may be the ultimate determinant of whether it can reproduce.     

Isolation of six microsatellite loci in the pollinating fig wasp,Platyscapa awekei

Platyscapa awekei DNA was enriched for several repeat motifs. Sequencing of 48 transformed colonies showed that 22 contained microsatellite loci. Eleven of these loci were tested and six of them proved to be reliable and variable. As expected from these wasps’ biology, F_IS was high (= 0.423), indicating frequent sibmating. Notwithstanding, we estimate that dispersing males may secure as much as 8% of all matings.     

Explaining the distribution of breeding and dispersal syndromes in conifers

The evolution of plants exhibiting different sexes, or dioecy, is correlated with a number of ecological and life-history traits such as woody growth form and animal-dispersed seeds, but the underlying causes of these associations are unclear. Previous work in seed plants has suggested that the evolution of fleshy cones or seeds may favour dioecy. In this study, we use a well-sampled molecular phylogeny of conifers to show that although dioecy and fleshiness strongly co-occur at the species level, this relationship has not resulted from numerous separate origins of this trait combination or from differential rates of diversification. Instead, we suggest that two character combinations—the ancestral dry-monoecious condition and the derived fleshy-dioecious condition—have persisted in conifers longer than other combinations over evolutionary time. The persistence of these trait combinations appears to reflect differences in the rate of successful transition into and out of these character states over time, as well as the geographical restriction of species with rare combinations and their consequent vulnerability to extinction. In general, we argue that such persistence explanations should be considered alongside ‘key innovation’ hypotheses in explaining the phylogenetic distribution of traits.     

Seed dispersal in an African fig tree: birds as high quantity,low quality dispersers?

Abstract. Ficus burtt-davyi is a shrub or small tree found in the south and east of South Africa. Based on studies carried out in an area where the plant grows mainly as a rock-splitter, we first describe the nature and timing of the fruit resources it offers to potential dispersal agents, and then the animals that feed on the fruits. The figs are eaten by a diverse avian disperser assemblage, although just two species comprised about half of the recorded visits to the trees. Germination trials with seeds defecated by the birds found that they germinated more quickly than control seeds. Small terrestrial mammals and ants were also found to have a role in fig seed dispersal which may be disproportionate to the number of seeds they transport.     

The Pacific Banyan in the Cook Islands: have its pollination and seed dispersal mutualisms been disrupted, and does it matter?

Fig trees (Ficus spp., Moraceae) are pollinated by species-specific fig wasps and have seeds that are mainly dispersed by fruit bats and birds. Consequently, they should be strongly dependent on mutualisms with animals for their reproductive success. As elsewhere in the Pacific, extinctions of potential seed dispersers have occurred on the islands in the southern Cook Islands archipelago. The abundance of the Pacific Banyan, Ficus prolixa, was found to be unrelated to the extent of potential seed disperser extinctions on different islands. There was no evidence of recruitment on Rarotonga, which has the most diverse bird and bat assemblage, and healthy populations on Mangaia, where all the native avian frugivores are extinct. Despite its very small population sizes on some of the islands, the trees pollinators are still present, showing that this mutualism has not yet been disrupted. Habitat loss, rather than a loss of mutualists, appears to be the main problem facing this species.     

Phenology of Ficus variegata in a seasonal wet tropical forest at Cape Tribulation, Australia

Abstract. We studied the phenology of 198 mature trees of the dioecious fig Ficus variegata Blume (Moraceae) in a seasonally wet tropical rain forest at Cape Tribulation, Australia, from March 1988 to February 1993. Leaf production was highly seasonal and correlated with rainfall. Trees were annually deciduous, with a pronounced leaf drop and a pulse of new growth during the August-September drought. At the population level, figs were produced continually throughout the study but there were pronounced annual cycles in fig abundance. Figs were least abundant during the early dry period (June-September) and most abundant from the late dry season (October-November) through the wet season (December-April). The annual peak in reproduction actually reflected two staggered peaks arising from gender differences in fig phenology. In this dioecious species, female and male trees initiated their maximal fig crops at different times and flowering was to some extent synchronized within sexes. Fig production in the female (seed-producing) trees was typically confined to the wet season. Male (wasp-producing) trees were less synchronized than female trees but reached a peak level of fig production in the months prior to the onset of female fig production. Male trees were also more likely to produce figs continually. Asynchrony among male fig crops during the dry season could maintain the pollinator population under adverse conditions through within- and among-tree wasp transfers.     

榕属与榕小蜂科的分类研究进展

简述了榕树与其传粉者的共生体系,讨论了榕属植物与榕小蜂科的分类历史和现状,指出了二者分 类研究中存在的分歧,并对榕属与榕小蜂科的分类不匹配问题进行了评述。结合我国榕属与榕小蜂科分类的 研究现状,展望今后研究的方向及前景。     

传粉榕小蜂与非传粉小蜂间寄主识别行为的趋同进化

在高度专性传粉的榕树-榕小蜂互惠共生系统中普遍存在着一些非传粉小蜂,它们中的一些种类进入果腔后也能为榕树传粉,且在形态和物候上已与传粉榕小蜂发生了趋同进化。但其寄主识别行为是否也与传粉榕小蜂发生了趋同进化还不得而知。我们在西双版纳选择了钝叶榕(Ficuscurtipes)及其3种进果繁殖小蜂开展了相关的行为实验。3种小蜂中,1种是钝叶榕的专性传粉榕小蜂(Eupristina sp.),另外2种是寄居性非传粉小蜂(杨氏金小蜂Diaziellayangi和Lipothymus sp.),这2种非传粉小蜂进入果腔后也像传粉榕小蜂那样为钝叶榕传粉。我们以钝叶榕不同发育时期的榕果及这3种小蜂为材料,采用Y型嗅觉仪观察了这3种小蜂对各发育时期榕果和信息化学物质6-甲基-5-庚烯-2-醇、6-甲基-5-庚烯-2-酮及这2种化合物的混合物的选择行为。结果表明,当提供雌花期榕果与其他发育时期榕果和空气对照供这3种小蜂选择时,它们均显著地偏向于选择雌花期榕果;当提供雄花期榕果与其他发育时期榕果和空气对照供这3种小蜂选择时,它们均显著地偏向于选择其他发育时期榕果和空气对照,即都会避开雄花期榕果;此外,这3种小蜂均对钝叶榕雌花期果释放的一种主要化合物6-甲基-5-庚烯-2-醇的同一剂量(1μL)表现出显著的偏好。这一结果为传粉榕小蜂与非传粉小蜂间的寄主识别行为趋同进化的假说提供了证据。     

Host-specificity and coevolution among pollinating and nonpollinating New World fig wasps

Figs (Ficus spp., Moraceae) and their pollinating wasps (Hymenoptera, Agaonidae, Chalcidoidea) constitute a classic example of an obligate plant-pollinator mutualism, and have become an ideal system for addressing questions on coevolution, speciation, and the maintenance of mutualisms. In addition to pollinating wasps, figs host several types of nonpollinating, parasitic wasps from a diverse array of Chalcid subfamilies with varied natural histories and ecological strategies (e.g. competitors, gallers, and parasitoids). Although a few recent studies have addressed the question of codivergence between specific genera of pollinating and nonpollinating fig wasps, no study has addressed the history of divergence of a fig wasp community comprised of multiple genera of wasps associated with a large number of sympatric fig hosts. Here, we conduct phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA sequences (COI) using 411 individuals from 69 pollinating and nonpollinating fig wasp species to assess relationships within and between five genera of fig wasps (Pegoscapus, Idarnes, Heterandrium, Aepocerus, Physothorax) associated with 17 species of New World Urostigma figs from section Americana. We show that host-switching and multiple wasp species per host are ubiquitous across Neotropical nonpollinating wasp genera. In spite of these findings, cophylogenetic analyses (TREEMAP 1.0, TREEMAP 2.02beta, and parafit) reveal evidence of codivergence among fig wasps from different ecological guilds. Our findings further challenge the classical notion of strict-sense coevolution between figs and their associated wasps, and mirror conclusions from detailed molecular studies of other mutualisms that have revealed common patterns of diffuse coevolution and asymmetric specialization among the participants.