| Title: | Overlaps in olfactive signalling coupled with geographic variation may result in localised pollinator sharing between closely related Ficus species |
| Author(s): | Deng X; Cheng Y; Peng YQ; Yu H; Proffit M; Kjellberg F; |
| Address: | "Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Digital Botanical Garden and Key Laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Sustainable Utilization, South China Botanical Garden, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China. CEFE, CNRS, Univ Montpellier, EPHE, Montpellier, IRD, France. CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Digital Botanical Garden and Key Laboratory of Plant Resource Conservation and Sustainable Utilization, South China Botanical Garden, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China. yuhui@scib.ac.cn" |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s12862-022-02055-0 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 2730-7182 (Electronic) 2730-7182 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "BACKGROUND: In brood site pollination mutualisms, pollinators are attracted by odours emitted at anthesis. In Ficus, odours of receptive figs differ among species and the specific pollinators generally only enter figs of their host species ensuring a pre-zygotic barrier to plant interspecific hybridisation. However, field observations recorded that, in Guangdong province in China, Valisia javana hilli, the local pollinator of F. hirta, entered and reproduced successfully in the figs of the closely related F. triloba on a regular basis. We propose that closely related Ficus species produce similar receptive fig odours. Under particular contexts of odours locally present, the receptive fig odours of non-host figs of a Ficus species may become attractive to pollinators of closely related Ficus species. We used the headspace technique to collect in situ receptive fig odours of F. triloba in a series of locations in China. Under controlled conditions, we tested the attraction of fig pollinating wasps from F. hirta and F. triloba to host figs and non-host figs in Y tube experiments. RESULTS: Receptive fig odours of F. triloba though different from those of F. hirta, were mainly composed of a same set of volatile organic compounds. When given the choice between receptive fig odours and air, the pollinating wasps were only attracted by their host's odours. However, when given a choice between host and non-host figs the pollinators of F. hirta were equally attracted by the two odours while the pollinators of F. triloba tended to be more attracted by their host's fig odours. CONCLUSIONS: Receptive fig odours vary geographically within species and the differentiation of receptive fig odours between closely related Ficus species is often incomplete. This allows localised or occasional pollinator sharing following different modalities. Cross stimulation when wasps are exposed simultaneously to odours of host and non-host species may be important. While occasional pollinator sharing may play a marginal role when wasp populations are robust, it may ensure the provisioning of new pollinators from the closest relative of a Ficus species if its pollinators go extinct" |
| Keywords: | Animals *Ficus/physiology Odorants Pollination/physiology Smell *Wasps/physiology Chemical signalling Co-speciation Ficus hirta Ficus triloba Mutualism Speciation Valisia esquirolianae Valisia javana; |
| Notes: | "MedlineDeng, Xiaoxia Cheng, Yufen Peng, Yan-Qiong Yu, Hui Proffit, Magali Kjellberg, Finn eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2022/08/14 BMC Ecol Evol. 2022 Aug 13; 22(1):97. doi: 10.1186/s12862-022-02055-0" |
