Seasonality in the reproductive phenology ofFicus: Its evolution and consequences

Summary

Ficus can only reproduce if they are pollinated by mutualistic wasps that breed within the figs. Pollen-loaded wasps enter the figs when the female flowers are receptive. Several weeks later, their offspring load pollen within the fig and then emerge. As individual trees typically produce crops of synchronous figs at long intervals, the shortlived wasps have to move to another, receptive, tree. The wasp population can only survive, and hence the fig population reproduce, if there are trees fruiting all over the year. When only few trees are present within a population gaps in the flowering sequence may lead to the extinction of the local pollinator population. Two models are presented. One investigates the number of trees necessary in order to sustain a local pollinator population when the tree population has a seasonal pattern of fruiting. The second model investigates how such a seasonal pattern may evolve within a fig population as a result of individual selection on the trees. It is shown that pollinator populations are fragilized under seasonal conditions. Hence, the breeding system ofFicus limits their expansion into highly seasonal habitats. Seasonal habitats may also lead to seasonal adjustment of male versus female investments and to the evolution of dioecy.