Foundress numbers and the timing of selective events during interactions between figs and fig wasps.

ABSTRACT: In intimate mutualisms between hosts and symbionts, selection can act repeatedly over the development times of the interacting individuals. Although much is now known about the overall ecological conditions that favor the evolution of mutualism, a current challenge is to understand how natural selection acts on the number and kinds of partners to shape the evolution and stability of these interactions. Using the obligate fig-fig wasp mutualism, our experiments showed that the proportion of figs developed to maturity increased quickly to 1.0 as the number of foundresses increased, regardless of whether the foundresses carried pollen. Selection against pollen-free wasps did not occur at this early stage in fig development. Within figs that developed, the proportion of galls producing adult w

SUBMITTER: Sun BF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6399315 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature