Biodiv Sci ›› 2006, Vol. 14 ›› Issue (4): 340-344.  DOI: 10.1360/biodiv.060018

Special Issue: 传粉生物学 昆虫多样性与生态功能

• Editorial • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Community structure of fig wasp in Ficus benjamina in different habitats

Lifen Bai1, 2, Darong Yang1*, Zhanghong Shi1, 2, Yanqiong Peng1, Shuwei Zhai1, 2   

  1. 1 Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650223
    2 Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049
  • Received:2006-01-20 Revised:2006-05-25 Online:2006-07-20 Published:2006-07-20
  • Contact: Darong Yang

Abstract: Ficus are species-specifically pollinated by Chalcidoid wasps (Agaonidae). Each monoecious fig species shelters a wasp community of pollinator and nonpollinators. Ficus benjamina is a monoecious tree worldwide cultivated for ornamental purposes, but the fig wasp community inside the syconium of this spe-cies is still little known. In order to study the fig wasp community structure of F. benjamina in different habitats, we collected 180 syconia from three different study sites distinct in plant coverage and disturbance level in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. In all syconia, 49,149 specimens were collected, consisting of 13 species of fig wasps from 8 genera of Chaleidoidae. Eupristina koningsbergeri was the pollinator, whereas the others were nonpollinators. The species diversity and abundance of the fig wasp community were significantly dif-ferent in the three study sites, and were significantly higher in the site with high plant coverage and relatively little disturbance. This result indicates that nonpollinators are inclined to oviposit in flowers of F. benjamina in habitats with high plant coverage and relatively little disturbance. The data also suggest that the correlation between pollinator and nonpollinators inside the syconium is significantly negative.

Key words: phylogenetic analysis, Streptomyces, 16S rRNA