Maintenance of specificity in sympatric host-specific fig/wasp pollination mutualisms.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Fig/wasp pollination mutualisms are extreme examples of species-specific plant-insect symbioses, but incomplete specificity occurs, with potentially important evolutionary consequences. Why pollinators enter alternative hosts, and the fates of pollinators and the figs they enter, are unknown.

Methods

We studied the pollinating fig wasp, Ceratosolen emarginatus, which concurrently interacts with its typical host Ficus auriculata and the locally sympatric alternative host F. hainanensis, recording frequencies of the wasp in figs of the alternative hosts. We measured ovipositor lengths of pollinators and style lengths in female and male figs in the two host species. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by receptive figs of each species were

SUBMITTER: Xie H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9375967 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature