Mutualists with attitude: coevolving fig wasps and figs
نویسندگان
چکیده
The intimate mutualism between fig wasps and figs has long captivated biologists, and new phylogenies are now uncovering its evolutionary history. Fig-pollinating wasps evolved just once, but fig parasitism has evolved repeatedly and convergently. Figs and their pollinators appear to have co-speciated considerably, but not invariably, because the famous one-to-one rule of specificity is often broken. Some key traits of figs and pollinators show impressive correlated evolution, but the resolution of conflicts that threaten the stability of the mutualism remains controversial.
منابع مشابه
Pollination and parasitism in functionally dioecious figs.
Fig wasps (Agaonidae: Hymenoptera) are seed predators and their interactions with Ficus species (Moraceae) range from mutualism to parasitism. Recently considerable attention has been paid to conflicts of interest between the mutualists and how they are resolved in monoecious fig species. However, despite the fact that different conflicts can arise, little is known about the factors that influe...
متن کاملLarger Fig Wasps Are More Careful About Which Figs to Enter – With Good Reason
Floral longevity reflects a balance between gains in pollinator visitation and the costs of flower maintenance. Because rewards to pollinators change over time, older flowers may be less attractive, reducing the value of extended longevity. Un-pollinated figs, the inflorescences of Ficus species, can remain receptive for long periods, but figs that are older when entered by their host-specific ...
متن کاملSpeciation in fig pollinators and parasites.
Here we draw on phylogenies of figs and fig wasps to suggest how modes of speciation may be affected by interspecific interactions. Mutualists appear to have cospeciated with their hosts to a greater extent than parasites, which showed evidence of host shifting. However, we also repeatedly encountered a pattern not explained by either cospeciation or host switching. Sister species of fig parasi...
متن کاملUtilisation of chemical signals by inquiline wasps in entering their host figs.
The fig tree, Ficus curtipes, hosts an obligate pollinating wasp, an undescribed Eupristina sp., but can also be pollinated by two inquiline (living in the burrow, nest, gall, or other habitation of another animal) wasps, Diaziella yangi and an undescribed Lipothymus sp. The two inquilines are unable to independently induce galls and depend on the galls induced by the obligate pollinator for re...
متن کاملCritical review of host specificity and its coevolutionary implications in the fig/fig-wasp mutualism.
Figs (Ficus spp., Moraceae) and their pollinating wasps (Agaonidae, Chalcidoidea) constitute perhaps the most tightly integrated pollination mutualism that is known. Figs are characterized by extraordinarily high global and local species diversity. It has been proposed that the diversification of this mutualism has occurred through strict-sense coadaptation and cospeciation between pairs of fig...
متن کامل