Title:
|
Experimental studies of hybridization in fig trees (Ficus spp., Moraceae) and their pollinators
|
Fig trees and their specific pollinators have an obligate mutualistic relationship
where both depend on each other to complete their life cycles. Each fig species is
pollinated by one or more specific pollinators with host specificity maintained by
physical and chemical barriers. Many mistakes however, have been recorded where
pollinators enter atypical hosts and manage to pollinate them and produce hybrids.
This thesis focuses on the fitness of experimentally generated hybrid fig trees and the
ability of fig wasps to reproduce inside these hybrids. The dioecious fig tree F.
montana and its pollinator Kradibia tentacularis from Indonesia and F. asperifolia
from Uganda and their hybrids were used. Styles of female flowers in male and
female figs lengthened at similar times during development and style lengths from
female figs were always longer. In receptive phase figs, the ovipositor of K.
tentacularis was able to reach all styles in male figs and some styles from female figs
of hybrids and their parents. Using a new technique for staining fig wasps eggs, K.
tentacularis was shown to lay one or two eggs in F. asperifolia, FI and backcross
male figs, but failed to reproduce in F. asperifolia and FI s. In backcrosses, it could
reproduce in figs of a few plants but not in the rest. It was inability to gall rather than
inability to oviposit that prevented pollinator reproduction. FI seeds germinated and
these seedlings grew as well as their parents, but later on most FIs died or were
dwarfed. Backcrosses and other hybrid crosses showed better performance than FIs.
Male FI s were sterile and hybrid fitness was lower than that of their parents, but FI
female plants were able to produce fertile seeds when pollinated by F. montana, so
introgression was possible.
|