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Chou PA, Bain A, Chantarasuwan B, Tzeng HY. Parasitism Features of a Fig Wasp of Genus Apocrypta (Pteromalidae: Pteromalinae) Associated with a Host Belonging to Ficus Subgenus Ficus. INSECTS 2023; 14:insects14050437. [PMID: 37233065 DOI: 10.3390/insects14050437] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2023] [Revised: 04/25/2023] [Accepted: 04/29/2023] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Non-pollinating fig wasps (NPFWs), particularly long-ovipositored Sycoryctina wasps, exhibit a high species specificity and exert complex ecological effects on the obligate mutualism between the plant genus Ficus and pollinating fig wasps. Apocrypta is a genus of NPFWs that mostly interacts with the Ficus species under the subgenus Sycomorus, and the symbiosis case between Apocrypta and F. pedunculosa var. mearnsii, a Ficus species under subgenus Ficus, is unique. As fig's internal environments and the wasp communities are distinct between the two subgenera, we addressed the following two questions: (1) Are the parasitism features of the Apocrypta wasp associated with F. pedunculosa var. mearnsii different from those of other congeneric species? (2) Is this Apocrypta species an efficient wasp that lives in its unique host? Our observation revealed that this wasp is an endoparasitic idiobiont parasitoid, as most congeneric species are, but developed a relatively long ovipositor. Furthermore, the relationships of the parasitism rate versus the pollinator number, the fig wall, and the sex ratio of the pollinator, respectively, showed that it possessed a higher parasitism ability than that of other congeners. However, its parasitism rate was low, and thus it was not an efficient wasp in its habitat. This difference between parasitism ability and parasitism rate might be a consequence of its oviposition strategy and the severe habitat conditions. These findings may also provide insights into the mechanism to maintain the interaction between the fig tree and the fig wasp community.
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Affiliation(s)
- Po-An Chou
- Department of Forestry, National Chung Hsing University, No. 145 Xingda Rd., Taichung City 40227, Taiwan
| | - Anthony Bain
- Department of Biological Science, National Sun Yat-sen University, No. 70 Lien-Hai Rd., Kaohsiung City 80424, Taiwan
| | | | - Hsy-Yu Tzeng
- Department of Forestry, National Chung Hsing University, No. 145 Xingda Rd., Taichung City 40227, Taiwan
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Mohd Hatta SK, Quinnell RJ, Idris AG, Compton SG. Making the most of your pollinators: An epiphytic fig tree encourages its pollinators to roam between figs. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:6371-6380. [PMID: 34141224 PMCID: PMC8207429 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7488] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2020] [Revised: 02/24/2021] [Accepted: 03/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Ficus species are characterized by their unusual enclosed inflorescences (figs) and their relationship with obligate pollinator fig wasps (Agaonidae). Fig trees have a variety of growth forms, but true epiphytes are rare, and one example is Ficus deltoidea of Southeast Asia. Presumably as an adaptation to epiphytism, inflorescence design in this species is exceptional, with very few flowers in female (seed-producing) figs and unusually large seeds. Figs on male (pollinator offspring-generating) trees have many more flowers. Many fig wasps pollinate one fig each, but because of the low number of flowers per fig, efficient utilization by F. deltoidea's pollinators depends on pollinators entering several female figs. We hypothesized that it is in the interest of the plants to allow pollinators to re-emerge from figs on both male and female trees and that selection favors pollinator roaming because it increases their own reproductive success. Our manipulations of Blastophaga sp. pollinators in a Malaysian oil palm plantation confirmed that individual pollinators do routinely enter several figs of both sexes. Entering additional figs generated more seeds per pollinator on female trees and more pollinator offspring on male trees. Offspring sex ratios in subsequently entered figs were often less female-biased than in the first figs they entered, which reduced their immediate value to male trees because only female offspring carry their pollen. Small numbers of large seeds in female figs of epiphytic F. deltoidea may reflect constraints on overall female fig size, because pollinator exploitation depends on mutual mimicry between male and female figs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siti Khairiyah Mohd Hatta
- Faculty of Biological SciencesUniversity of LeedsLeedsUK
- Faculty of Applied SciencesUniversiti Teknologi MARAShah AlamMalaysia
| | | | - Abd Ghani Idris
- Faculty of Science and TechnologyUniversiti Kebangsaan MalaysiaBangiMalaysia
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Van Goor J, Piatscheck F, Houston DD, Nason JD. Differential effects of nematode infection on pollinating and non-pollinating fig wasps: Can shared antagonism provide net benefits to a mutualism? J Anim Ecol 2021; 90:1764-1775. [PMID: 33934356 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2021] [Accepted: 04/01/2021] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Species pairs that form mutualistic associations are also components of broader organismal community networks. These interaction networks have shaped the evolution of individual mutualisms through interspecific interactions ranging from secondarily mutualistic to intensely antagonistic. Our understanding of this complex context remains limited because characterizing the impacts of species interacting with focal mutualists is often difficult. How is the fitness of mutualists impacted by the co-occurring interactive network of community associates? We investigated this context using a model interaction network comprised of a fig and fig wasp mutualist, eight non-pollinating fig wasp (NPFW) antagonists/commensals and a nematode previously believed to be associated only with the pollinator wasp mutualist. Through repeated sampling and field observations, we characterized the ecological roles of these mutualist-associated organisms to identify key antagonists. We then investigated how potential nematode infection of NPFWs could impact wasp survival across key life stages and, in turn, inferred how this influences the fitness of the fig-pollinator mutualists. Unexpectedly, we found all Ficus petiolaris-associated NPFWs to be the targets for nematode infection, with infection levels sometimes exceeding that of pollinators. Experimental data collected for the most abundant NPFW species suggest that nematode infection significantly reduces their longevity. Further, comparisons of nematode loads for emerging and successfully arriving NPFWs suggest that infection severely limits their dispersal ability. Through these observations, we conclude that this infection could impact NPFWs more severely than either mutualistic partner, suggesting a novel role of density-dependent facultative mutualism between figs, pollinator wasps and the nematode. This antagonist-mediated suppression of other network antagonists may present an ecologically common mechanism through which antagonists can present net benefits for mutualists' fitness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin Van Goor
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.,Department of Biology, University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Finn Piatscheck
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.,Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panamá, República de Panamá
| | - Derek D Houston
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.,Department of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Western Colorado University, Gunnison, CO, USA
| | - John D Nason
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA
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Yule KM, Johnson CA, Bronstein JL, Ferrière R. Interactions among interactions: The dynamical consequences of antagonism between mutualists. J Theor Biol 2020; 501:110334. [PMID: 32492378 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2020.110334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2019] [Revised: 01/09/2020] [Accepted: 05/12/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Species often interact with multiple mutualistic partners that provide functionally different benefits and/or that interact with different life-history stages. These functionally different partners, however, may also interact directly with one another in other ways, indirectly altering net outcomes and persistence of the mutualistic system as a whole. We present a population dynamical model of a three-species system involving antagonism between species sharing a mutualist partner species with two explicit life stages. We find that, regardless of whether the antagonism is predatory or non-consumptive, persistence of the shared mutualist is possible only under a restrictive set of conditions. As the rate of antagonism between the species sharing the mutualist increases, indirect rather than direct interactions increasingly determine species' densities and sometimes result in complex, oscillatory dynamics for all species. Surprisingly, persistence of the mutualistic system is particularly dependent upon the degree to which each of the two mutualistic interactions is specialized. Our work investigates a novel mechanism by which changing ecological conditions can lead to extinction of mutualist partners and provides testable predictions regarding the interactive roles of mutualism and antagonism in net outcomes for species' densities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelsey M Yule
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210088, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
| | - Christopher A Johnson
- Center for Adaptation to a Changing Environment, Institute of Integrative Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich Universitäetstrasse 16, Zürich 8092, Switzerland
| | - Judith L Bronstein
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210088, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Régis Ferrière
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, P.O. Box 210088, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Eco-Evo-Math Team, Institut de Biologie de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, 46 rue d'Ulm, 75005 Paris, France; International Research Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Global Environmental Studies (iGLOBES), University of Arizona, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris Sciences & Lettres University, 845 N Park Avenue, AZ 85721, USA
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Gupta S, Borges RM. Density‐dependent fitness effects stabilize parasitic hitchhiking within a mutualism. Funct Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Satyajeet Gupta
- Centre for Ecological Sciences Indian Institute of Science Bangalore India
| | - Renee M. Borges
- Centre for Ecological Sciences Indian Institute of Science Bangalore India
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Borges RM. The Galling Truth: Limited Knowledge of Gall-Associated Volatiles in Multitrophic Interactions. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2018; 9:1139. [PMID: 30140272 PMCID: PMC6094090 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2018.01139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2018] [Accepted: 07/13/2018] [Indexed: 05/18/2023]
Abstract
Galls are the product of enclosed internal herbivory where the gall maker induces a plant structure within which the herbivores complete their development. For successful sustained herbivory, gall makers must (1) suppress the induction of plant defenses in response to herbivory that is usually mediated through the jasmonic acid pathway and involves volatile organic compound (VOC) production, or (2) have mechanisms to cope with herbivory-induced VOCs, or (3) manipulate production of VOCs to their own advantage. Similarly, plants may have mechanisms (1) to avoid VOC suppression or (2) to attract galler enemies such as parasitoids. While research on VOCs involved in plant-herbivore-parasitoid/predator interactions is extensive, this has largely focussed on the impact of piercing, sucking, and chewing external herbivores or their eggs on VOC emissions. Despite the importance of gallers, owing to their damage to many economically valuable plants, the role of volatiles in gall-associated herbivory has been neglected; exceptions include studies on beneficial gallers and their enemies such as those that occur in brood-site pollination mutualisms. This is possibly the consequence of the difficulties inherent with studying internally occurring herbivory. This review examines the evidence for VOCs in galler attraction to host plants, potential VOC suppression by gallers, increased emission from galls and neighboring tissues, attraction of galler enemies, and the role of galler symbionts in VOC production. It suggests a research focus and ways in which studies on galler-associated VOCs can progress from a philatelic approach involving VOC listing toward a more predictive and evolutionary perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renee M. Borges
- Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India
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Proffit M, Bessière JM, Schatz B, Hossaert-McKey M. Can fine-scale post-pollination variation of fig volatile compounds explain some steps of the temporal succession of fig wasps associated with Ficus racemosa? ACTA OECOLOGICA-INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.actao.2017.08.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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Wang B, Lu M, Cook JM, Yang DR, Dunn DW, Wang RW. Chemical camouflage: a key process in shaping an ant-treehopper and fig-fig wasp mutualistic network. Sci Rep 2018; 8:1833. [PMID: 29382931 PMCID: PMC5789893 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-20310-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2017] [Accepted: 01/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Different types of mutualisms may interact, co-evolve and form complex networks of interdependences, but how species interact in networks of a mutualistic community and maintain its stability remains unclear. In a mutualistic network between treehoppers-weaver ants and fig-pollinating wasps, we found that the cuticular hydrocarbons of the treehoppers are more similar to the surface chemical profiles of fig inflorescence branches (FIB) than the cuticular hydrocarbons of the fig wasps. Behavioral assays showed that the cuticular hydrocarbons from both treehoppers and FIBs reduce the propensity of weaver ants to attack treehoppers even in the absence of honeydew rewards, suggesting that chemical camouflage helps enforce the mutualism between weaver ants and treehoppers. High levels of weaver ant and treehopper abundances help maintain the dominance of pollinating fig wasps in the fig wasp community and also increase fig seed production, as a result of discriminative predation and disturbance by weaver ants of ovipositing non-pollinating fig wasps (NPFWs). Ants therefore help preserve this fig-pollinating wasp mutualism from over exploitation by NPFWs. Our results imply that in this mutualistic network chemical camouflage plays a decisive role in regulating the behavior of a key species and indirectly shaping the architecture of complex arthropod-plant interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bo Wang
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, 666303, China
| | - Min Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
| | - James M Cook
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury Campus, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, 2751, NSW, Australia
| | - Da-Rong Yang
- Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, 666303, China
| | - Derek W Dunn
- College of Life Sciences, Northwest University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710069, China
| | - Rui-Wu Wang
- Center for Ecological and Environmental Sciences, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, 710072, China.
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Bain A, Tzeng HY, Wu WJ, Chou LS. Ficus (Moraceae) and fig wasps (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) in Taiwan. BOTANICAL STUDIES 2015; 56:11. [PMID: 28510820 PMCID: PMC5432906 DOI: 10.1186/s40529-015-0090-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2014] [Accepted: 04/27/2015] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Although Ficus-associated wasp fauna have been extensively researched in Australasia, information on these fauna in Taiwan is not well accessible to scientists worldwide. In this study, we compiled records on the Ficus flora of Taiwan and its associated wasp fauna. Initial agronomic research reports on Ficus were published in Japanese in 1917, followed by reports on applied biochemistry, taxonomy, and phenology in Chinese. On the basis of the phenological knowledge of 15 species of the Ficus flora of Taiwan, recent research has examined the pollinating and nonpollinating agaonid and chalcid wasps (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea). Updating records according to the current nomenclature revealed that there are 30 taxa (27 species) of native or naturalized Ficus with an unusually high proportion of dioecious species (78%). Four species were observed to exhibit mutualism with more than one pollinating wasp species, and 18 of the 27 Ficus species were reported with nonpollinating wasp species. The number of nonpollinating wasp species associated with specific Ficus species ranges from zero (F. pumila) to 24 (F. microcarpa). Approximately half of the Taiwanese fig tree species have been studied with basic information on phenology and biology described in peer-reviewed journals or theses. This review provides a solid basis for future in-depth comparative studies. This summary of knowledge will encourage and facilitate continuing research on the pollination dynamics of Ficus and the associated insect fauna in Taiwan.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony Bain
- Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Life Science, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd.,, Taipei, 10617 Taiwan
- Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive CEFE, UMR 5175 CNRS, 1919 route de Mende, Montpellier, 34293 France
| | - Hsy-Yu Tzeng
- Department of Forestry, National Chung-Hsing University, 250 Kuokwang Road, Taichung, 40227 Taiwan
| | - Wen-Jer Wu
- Department of Entomology, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd.,, Taipei, 10617 Taiwan
| | - Lien-Siang Chou
- Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Life Science, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd.,, Taipei, 10617 Taiwan
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Ranganathan Y, Bessière JM, Borges RM. A coat of many scents: Cuticular hydrocarbons in multitrophic interactions of fig wasps with ants. ACTA OECOLOGICA-INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.actao.2015.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Borges RM. How to be a fig wasp parasite on the fig-fig wasp mutualism. CURRENT OPINION IN INSECT SCIENCE 2015; 8:34-40. [PMID: 32846670 DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2015.01.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2014] [Revised: 01/14/2015] [Accepted: 01/20/2015] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The nursery pollination mutualism between figs and pollinating fig wasps is based on adaptations that allow wasps to enter the enclosed inflorescences of figs, to facilitate seed set, and to have offspring that develop within the nursery and that leave to enter other inflorescences for pollination. This closed mutualistic system is not immune to parasitic fig wasps. Although the life histories and basic biology of the mutualists have been investigated, the biology of the fig wasp parasites has been severely neglected. This review brings together current knowledge of the many different ways in which parasites can enter the system, and also points to the serious lacunae in our understanding of the intricate interactions between gallers, kleptoparasites, seed eaters and parasitoids within this mutualism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renee M Borges
- Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India.
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