Why Do Fig Wasps Actively Pollinate Monoecious Figs?

Active pollination, although rare, has been documented in a few pollination mutualisms. Such behaviour can only evolve if it benefits the pollinator in some way. The wasps that pollinate Ficus inflorescences can be active or passive pollinators. They lay their eggs in fig flowers, so that a proporti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oecologia 2003-02, Vol.134 (3), p.381-387
Main Authors: Jousselin, Emmanuelle, Hossaert-McKey, Martine, Herre, Edward Allen, Kjellberg, Finn
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Autoecology
Biodiversity and Ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Ecosystem
Environmental Sciences
Female
Ficus
Ficus - parasitology
Ficus - physiology
Flower stigma
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Insect eggs
Larva
Larva - growth & development
Larvae
Larval development
Male
Mutualism
Plant Animal Interactions
Pollen
Pollen - physiology
Pollen tubes
Pollinating insects
Pollination
Pollinators
Protozoa. Invertebrata
Reproduction
Reproduction - physiology
Symbiosis
Wasps
Wasps - physiology
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Summary:Active pollination, although rare, has been documented in a few pollination mutualisms. Such behaviour can only evolve if it benefits the pollinator in some way. The wasps that pollinate Ficus inflorescences can be active or passive pollinators. They lay their eggs in fig flowers, so that a proportion of flowers will host a wasp larva instead of a seed. We show in an actively pollinated monoecious fig that lack of pollination does not induce fig abortion or affect wasp offspring size but results in smaller numbers of offspring. Hence, conversely to other active pollination systems, seed formation is not obligatory to sustain developing pollinator larvae; however there is a direct fitness cost to active pollinators not to pollinate. We then compared the locations of eggs and fertilised flowers of three actively pollinated Ficus species and one passively pollinated species. We found that more flowers containing wasp eggs were fertilised in the actively pollinated species relative to those of the passively pollinated one. These results along with comparison with similar studies on dioecious figs, support the hypothesis that active pollination has evolved in fig wasps to ensure that more flowers containing wasp eggs are fertilised as this may increase the chances of successful gall development. The stigmatic platform characterising actively pollinated figs is probably an adaptation to increase pollen dispersion within the fig.
ISSN:0029-8549
1432-1939
DOI:10.1007/s00442-002-1116-0