How to be a dioecious fig: Chemical mimicry between sexes matters only when both sexes flower synchronously.

ABSTRACT: In nursery pollination mutualisms, which are usually obligate interactions, olfactory attraction of pollinators by floral volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is the main step in guaranteeing partner encounter. However, mechanisms ensuring the evolutionary stability of dioecious fig-pollinator mutualisms, in which female fig trees engage in pollination by deceit resulting in zero reproductive success of pollinators that visit them, are poorly understood. In dioecious figs, individuals of each sex should be selected to produce odours that their pollinating wasps cannot distinguish, especially since pollinators have usually only one choice of a nursery during their lifetime. To test the hypothesis of intersexual chemical mimicry, VOCs emitted by pollen-receptive figs of seven dioecious species

SUBMITTER: Hossaert-McKey M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4758059 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature