2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

How do insect seed predators adapt to general flowering in Southeast Asian tropical rainforests?

Research Project

Project/Area Number	24870022
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Ecology/Environment
Research Institution	Tokyo Metropolitan University
Principal Investigator	HOSAKA Tetsuro 首都大学東京, 都市環境科学研究科, 助教 (50626190)
Project Period (FY)	2012-08-31 – 2014-03-31
Keywords	植物―昆虫相互作用 / フタバガキ / ゾウムシ / 種子食者飽食仮説 / マレーシア
Research Abstract	Dipterocarp trees in Southeast Asia are known to flower and fruit every 2 to 10 years. In the present study, how insect seed predators on dipterocarps adapt to the largely fluctuated seed production of dipterocarps was examined. Molecular phylogeny of the seed weevils showed that closely-related weevils did not always use closely-related dipterocarp species. This implies that weevils might have altered or expanded their hosts to deal with the unpredictable seeding phenology. Also, there were two types of weevil larvae in seeds of dipterocarps; one emerged as adults soon after fruit-fall while the other remains as larvae more than one years. This implies that some larvae have dormancy to survive during non-fruiting period.