2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Where do pollinators come from in alpine regions?: Role of flies parasitic on ground beetles in pollination
| Project/Area Number |
19H03293
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Review Section |
Basic Section 45040:Ecology and environment-related
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo (2020-2022)
Hokkaido University (2019) |
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Principal Investigator |
Okuzaki Yutaka 東京大学, 大学院総合文化研究科, 講師 (40725785)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
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| Keywords | 寄生バエ / 送粉者 / オサムシ / 高山生態系 / DNAバーコーディング |
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
In cold environments such as alpine zones, various fly species are major pollinators, but little is known about their larval ecology. In this study, I focused on the larval parasitism of some of these flower-visiting flies.
We collected 6745 individuals of Carabus beetles and 520 individuals of their parasitoids from 57 sites in Hokkaido, Japan, and DNA barcoding of the parasites revealed that most of them were tachinid flies, which were flower-visiting insects in their adult stages. The parasitism rate was high in alpine and serpentine environments dominated by flowering plants.
Because Carabus beetle is a large and abundant insect occurring in a wide range of vegetation, it is a suitable host for the tachinid larvae and is expected to provide plants with a significant number of tachinid adults as pollinators in cold climates with abundant floral resources.
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| Free Research Field |
生態学
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| Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements |
捕食性昆虫であるオサムシの寄生バエが送粉者として機能するのであれば，高山生態系は植物の一次生産によってボトムアップ的に維持されているのではなく，異なる機能群（生産者，植食者，捕食者，寄生者兼送粉者）の生態学的な需要と供給が種間相互作用によって循環することで成り立っているということになる．こうした捕食被食ネットワークと送粉ネットワークが連結した群集構造が高山生態系の安定性に貢献しているかもしれない．
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