More examples of breakdown the 1:1 partner specificity between figs and fig wasps

作者：Hui Yu, Yaolin Liao, Yufen Cheng, Yongxia Jia, Stephen G. Compton · 发表于：Botanical studies · 年份：2021 · DOI：10.1186/s40529-021-00323-8 · 被引用次数：17 · 研究领域：Plant and animal studies、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Plant Diversity and Evolution

BACKGROUND: The obligate mutualism between fig trees (Ficus, Moraceae) and pollinating fig wasps (Agaonidae) is a model system for studying co-evolution due to its perceived extreme specificity, but recent studies have reported a number of examples of trees pollinated by more than one fig wasp or sharing pollinators with other trees. This will make the potential of pollen flow between species and hybridization more likely though only few fig hybrids in nature have been found. We reared pollinator fig wasps from figs of 13 Chinese fig tree species and established their identity using genetic methods in order to investigate the extent to which they were supporting more than one species of pollinator (co-pollinator). RESULTS: Our results showed (1) pollinator sharing was frequent among closely-related dioecious species (where pollinator offspring and seeds develop on different trees); (2) that where two pollinator species were developing in figs of one host species there was usually one fig wasp with prominent rate than the other. An exception was F. triloba, where its two pollinators were equally abundant; (3) the extent of co-pollinator within one fig species is related to the dispersal ability of them which is stronger in dioecious figs, especially in small species. CONCLUSIONS: Our results gave more examples to the breakdown of extreme specificity, which suggest that host expansion events where pollinators reproduce in figs other than those of their usual hosts are not uncom...