Plasticity and diversity of the phenology of dioecious Ficus species in Taiwan |
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| Institution: | 1. Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Life Sciences, National Taiwan University, 1 Roosevelt Road, Section 4, Taipei 10617, Taiwan;2. Centre d''Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), UMR 5175 CNRS, 1919 route de Mende, Montpellier 34293, France;3. Department of Forestry, National Chung Hsing University, 250 Kuokwang Road, Taichung 40227, Taiwan;1. Institute of Chemistry, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Kurt-Mothes-Straße 2, D-06120 Halle, Germany;2. Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Nemanjina 6, 11080 Belgrade-Zemun, Serbia;3. Department of Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 14, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia;1. Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China;2. Guangxi Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guilin 541006, China;1. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Evolução, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Caixa Postal 131, CEP 74001-970 Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil;2. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade de Brasília, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, Bloco E, Asa Norte, CEP 770910-900 Brasília, DF, Brazil;3. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Ambientais, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Caixa Postal 131, CEP 74001-970, Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil;4. Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Caixa Postal 131, CEP 74001-970 Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil;5. Laboratório de Macroecologia, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Campus II, BR 364, Km 192, CEP 75801-615 Jataí, Goiás, Brazil;1. Institute of Entomology, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China;2. Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;3. Environment and Plant Protection Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Haikou 571101, China;4. Guangxi Key Laboratory of Beibu Gulf Marine Biodiversity Conservation, College of Marine Sciences, Beibu Gulf University, Qinzhou 535011, China;5. Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;6. Berry Genomics Corporation, Beijing 102206, China |
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| Abstract: | While Ficus present a series of traits often associated with dioecy, the prevalence of dioecy in Ficus is atypical. In Asian floras, dioecious Ficus species generally outnumber monoecious ones. Further this is also true in relatively northerly locations for Ficus such as the island of Taiwan. Ficus are pollinated by species-specific wasps that use fig flowers as breeding sites. In dioecious fig species, pollinators develop only in the inflorescences of male fig trees. In this study, we investigated the reproductive phenology of four dioecious Ficus species with distinct ecologies in several locations in northern and southern Taiwan. The two first species (Ficus erecta and Ficus septica) were investigated in four locations. Reproductive phenology was quite different among sites, even within a single species. For example, F. erecta presented well-defined crops at the population level in its usual high-elevation habitat but continuous fig production at low elevations, especially in South Taiwan. The two other fig species (Ficus pedunculosa var. mearnsii and Ficus tinctoria subsp. swinhoei), are shrubs growing together along seashores in exposed locations on coral reef remnants. These two species presented quite different traits allowing the survival of pollinating wasp populations. Ficus pedunculosa var. mearnsii produced figs continuously so that fresh receptive figs were always available for the pollinating wasps while F. tinctoria subsp. swinhoei extended the period of receptivity of its figs, so that receptive figs that had been waiting for pollinating wasps were almost always available. In summary, dioecious figs in Taiwan showed remarkable variation in their phenology, within species among locations or among species within location. Nevertheless, despite this variation, the phenology of the trees always allowed survival of pollinating wasp populations. Dioecious figs seem to have adopted a differentiated set of strategies which result in high resilience of pollinator populations. This resilience could help explain the atypical prevalence of dioecy in Ficus. |
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| Keywords: | Dioecy Phenology Synchrony Taiwan |
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