Effects Of Different Timing Of Foundress Entering Ficus Microcarpa Linn.f. Syconia On The Fig-Wasps Reproductive Efficiency

Ficus microcarpa Linn.f.belongs to a member from Ficus,Moraceae and Urticales,which is the main member of tropical and subtropical forest ecosystem.F.microcarpa and its pollinating fig wasps(Eupristina verticillata)coexist mutually.Ficus microcarpa requires pollination by wasps for bearing fruit.The wasps also need food and stable space,that is necessary for their larval development to avoid being disturbed,provided by F.microcarpa.During male phase,the syconia and the progeny of the foundress develop and mature at the same time,and then the progeny leave the syconia.So far,however,the information regarding the syconia development of the Ficus and its interactioins with the wasps has still been limited.In my daily sampling,I found that F.microcarpa has a very high number of figs at male phase,but there are few pollinating wasps and seed in the syconia.Present study aimed to reveal the developmental characteristics of F.microcarpa syconia,to explore the effect of timing of the pollinator entering the syconia on reproductive efficiency of both fig and fig-wasp,providing new clues and ideas for developing fig-fig wasp symbiotic system and its utilization in the near future practice.In the past years,the developmental characteristics of F.microcarpa flowers and syconia were illustrated through syconia bagging and regular anatomical observations.The mortality of the progeny of both of 5th instar larvae and adults as the pollinator entering the syconia at different times was detected by controlling the amount of introducing the wasp artificially.The number of empty galls,seeds,aborted flowers in the syconia during male phase,as well as the body length and,the female/male rates of the progeny of the wasps were determinated Using SPSS software,the data obtained in the experiments above were analysed through Duncan multiple comparative method.The main results are as follows:1.In the absence of pollination of F.microcarpa,the development of the syconia could be divided into four phases: 1.the pre-female flowering phase lasting about6 days;2.the female phase lastsing arond 7 days;3.the terminal flower phase lasting about 18 days;and 4.the perish phase ranging 18 days.The papillae on the stigma could be regarded as morphological markers that female flowers entering the female phase;In the pre-female flowering phase(1 d),the female/male flower(43-49d)primordia differentiated synchronously,and the two kinds of the flowers could be distinguished with their morphological characteristics.As female flowers matured in female phase(7-13 d),fig wasps could be attracted into the syconia.At the end of perish phase when male flowers became mature,.the female and male flowers trended to maintaine a continuous growth to their survival.,The female flowers developed rapidly at the female phase(7-13d),while the male flowers developed dramaticaly from the last one day of pre-female flowering phase to the early terminal phase(6-20d).The male flowers entered the period of rapid growth slightly earlier than the female flowers,grew slowly but longger time.Therefore,the reason for the late maturation of male flowers is not due to their delayed development but the longer development period of male flowers;At the female phase the syconia without pollination would not fall off immediately,actually their drop rate was only 2.47% at the terminal flower phase and 80.86% at the perish phase.2.It can be seen that the middle female phase could be the optimal time for the wasp to get into the syconia according to the rate of the wasp entering the syconia(RWES)and the fig-fig wasp reproduction efficiency obtained in this study,At the beginning of the female phase and the end of the female phase,the RWEP,the number of galls(It's mainly the number of female wasp),the body length of the offspring decreased dramatically,and the sex ratio raised significantly.However,the RWEP(9.05%)at the end of the female phase was obviously lower than that(22.02%)of the initial period.This experiment show that the syconia of fig tree enter fig wasp at different times,and both the seed setting rate and the galling rate showed a trend of increasing from low to gradually decreasing.These results provide an useful data for studying the reproductive phenology of F.microcarpa Linn.f.and the symbiotic relationship between the fig and the wasp.