Does strangler ficus population maintain the pollination mutualism in the northernmost area of their habitat?

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24658142
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Forest science
• Research Institution: Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute
• Principal Investigator: OTANI Tatsuya 独立行政法人森林総合研究所, 四国支所, 主任研究員 (80353613)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): KANETANI Seiichi 独立行政法人, 森林総合研究所・九州支所, 主任研究員 (90353648)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 送粉共生 / 遺伝的多様性 / 結実周期 / 周年結実

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Population of Ficus superba var. japonica needs to achieve year-round fruiting in order to maintain the pollination mutualism with fig wasps. However, it seems that the year-round fruiting is failed in the northernmost area of the ficus habitat due to loss of genetic diversity and low temperature in winter. We observed the fruiting behavior of the ficus trees and investigated the genetic diversity in two populations, Ashizuri and Muroto, in the southern Shikoku Island. In both populations the year-round fruiting was maintained for two and a half year, however, no trees showed periodic fruiting exclusively in fall and winter when fruiting trees were sparse. Ashizuri population had higher genetic diversity than Muroto where the year-round fruiting was less stable, inferring that the genetic diversity of a ficus population fostered the stability of year-round fruiting.

Free Research Field

森林生態学