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How to be a dioecious fig: Chemical mimicry between sexes matters only when both sexes flower synchronously
- Source :
- Scientific Reports
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Nature Publishing Group, 2016.
-
Abstract
- In nursery pollination mutualisms, which are usually obligate interactions, olfactory attraction of pollinators by floral volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is the main step in guaranteeing partner encounter. However, mechanisms ensuring the evolutionary stability of dioecious fig–pollinator mutualisms, in which female fig trees engage in pollination by deceit resulting in zero reproductive success of pollinators that visit them, are poorly understood. In dioecious figs, individuals of each sex should be selected to produce odours that their pollinating wasps cannot distinguish, especially since pollinators have usually only one choice of a nursery during their lifetime. To test the hypothesis of intersexual chemical mimicry, VOCs emitted by pollen-receptive figs of seven dioecious species were compared using headspace collection and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis. First, fig-flower scents varied significantly among species, allowing host-species recognition. Second, in species in which male and female figs are synchronous, intersexual VOC variation was not significant. However, in species where figs of both sexes flower asynchronously, intersexual variation of VOCs was detectable. Finally, with one exception, there was no sexual dimorphism in scent quantity. We show that there are two ways to use scent to be a dioecious fig based on differences in flowering synchrony between the sexes.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
0301 basic medicine
Pollination
Wasps
Flowers
Biology
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
Article
03 medical and health sciences
Pollinator
Animals
Biological Mimicry
Volatile Organic Compounds
Centre for Ecological Sciences
Multidisciplinary
Obligate
Reproductive success
Ecology
Ficus
Attraction
Biological Evolution
Sexual dimorphism
030104 developmental biology
Chemical mimicry
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20452322
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Scientific Reports
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....4e499d479c3dc091e6ba38d366174996
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/srep21236