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Phenological Adaptations in Ficus tikoua Exhibit Convergence with Unrelated Extra-Tropical Fig Trees

Flowering phenology is central to the ecology and evolution of most flowering plants. In highly-specific nursery pollination systems, such as that involving fig trees (Ficus species) and fig wasps (Agaonidae), any mismatch in timing has serious consequences because the plants must balance seed produ...

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Autores principales: Zhao, Ting-Ting, Compton, Stephen G., Yang, Yong-Jiang, Wang, Rong, Chen, Yan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4256256/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25474008
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0114344
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author Zhao, Ting-Ting
Compton, Stephen G.
Yang, Yong-Jiang
Wang, Rong
Chen, Yan
author_facet Zhao, Ting-Ting
Compton, Stephen G.
Yang, Yong-Jiang
Wang, Rong
Chen, Yan
author_sort Zhao, Ting-Ting
collection PubMed
description Flowering phenology is central to the ecology and evolution of most flowering plants. In highly-specific nursery pollination systems, such as that involving fig trees (Ficus species) and fig wasps (Agaonidae), any mismatch in timing has serious consequences because the plants must balance seed production with maintenance of their pollinator populations. Most fig trees are found in tropical or subtropical habitats, but the dioecious Chinese Ficus tikoua has a more northerly distribution. We monitored how its fruiting phenology has adapted in response to a highly seasonal environment. Male trees (where fig wasps reproduce) had one to three crops annually, whereas many seed-producing female trees produced only one fig crop. The timing of release of Ceratosolen fig wasps from male figs in late May and June was synchronized with the presence of receptive figs on female trees, at a time when there were few receptive figs on male trees, thereby ensuring seed set while allowing remnant pollinator populations to persist. F. tikoua phenology has converged with those of other (unrelated) northern Ficus species, but there are differences. Unlike F. carica in Europe, all F. tikoua male figs contain male flowers, and unlike F. pumila in China, but like F. carica, it is the second annual generation of adult wasps that pollinate female figs. The phenologies of all three temperate fig trees generate annual bottlenecks in the size of pollinator populations and for female F. tikoua also a shortage of fig wasps that results in many figs failing to be pollinated.
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spelling pubmed-42562562014-12-11 Phenological Adaptations in Ficus tikoua Exhibit Convergence with Unrelated Extra-Tropical Fig Trees Zhao, Ting-Ting Compton, Stephen G. Yang, Yong-Jiang Wang, Rong Chen, Yan PLoS One Research Article Flowering phenology is central to the ecology and evolution of most flowering plants. In highly-specific nursery pollination systems, such as that involving fig trees (Ficus species) and fig wasps (Agaonidae), any mismatch in timing has serious consequences because the plants must balance seed production with maintenance of their pollinator populations. Most fig trees are found in tropical or subtropical habitats, but the dioecious Chinese Ficus tikoua has a more northerly distribution. We monitored how its fruiting phenology has adapted in response to a highly seasonal environment. Male trees (where fig wasps reproduce) had one to three crops annually, whereas many seed-producing female trees produced only one fig crop. The timing of release of Ceratosolen fig wasps from male figs in late May and June was synchronized with the presence of receptive figs on female trees, at a time when there were few receptive figs on male trees, thereby ensuring seed set while allowing remnant pollinator populations to persist. F. tikoua phenology has converged with those of other (unrelated) northern Ficus species, but there are differences. Unlike F. carica in Europe, all F. tikoua male figs contain male flowers, and unlike F. pumila in China, but like F. carica, it is the second annual generation of adult wasps that pollinate female figs. The phenologies of all three temperate fig trees generate annual bottlenecks in the size of pollinator populations and for female F. tikoua also a shortage of fig wasps that results in many figs failing to be pollinated. Public Library of Science 2014-12-04 /pmc/articles/PMC4256256/ /pubmed/25474008 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0114344 Text en © 2014 Zhao et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Zhao, Ting-Ting
Compton, Stephen G.
Yang, Yong-Jiang
Wang, Rong
Chen, Yan
Phenological Adaptations in Ficus tikoua Exhibit Convergence with Unrelated Extra-Tropical Fig Trees
title Phenological Adaptations in Ficus tikoua Exhibit Convergence with Unrelated Extra-Tropical Fig Trees
title_full Phenological Adaptations in Ficus tikoua Exhibit Convergence with Unrelated Extra-Tropical Fig Trees
title_fullStr Phenological Adaptations in Ficus tikoua Exhibit Convergence with Unrelated Extra-Tropical Fig Trees
title_full_unstemmed Phenological Adaptations in Ficus tikoua Exhibit Convergence with Unrelated Extra-Tropical Fig Trees
title_short Phenological Adaptations in Ficus tikoua Exhibit Convergence with Unrelated Extra-Tropical Fig Trees
title_sort phenological adaptations in ficus tikoua exhibit convergence with unrelated extra-tropical fig trees
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4256256/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25474008
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0114344
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