Fig Wasps Flashcards
What are the types of fig tree?(2)
●Ficus sycomorus
- “Broom fig”.
●Ficus glucosa
- 750 species worldwide.
- 500 species = Australia.
- 110 species = Africa + Madagascar.
- 48 species = Southern Africa.
What is a fig?
= a “turned in flower”.
What layers is a fig composed of?
●Syconium
- outermost.
●Ostiole
- opening for fig wasps.
●Florets
- flowers within fig.
Name the types of fig wasps? (2)
●Pollinators
- have long, thin heads (Y?_ enables them to slip into the narrow ostiole of fig.
- once inside, lay eggs and deposit pollen from their home fig trees.
- compensate fig tree by depositing pollen.
●Non-pollinators
- have oversized egg depositors (Y?_used to peirce the fig).
- lay their own eggs.
- Parasites.
- selfish.
- don’t compensate fig & damage it.
What does moving through the ostiole do to fig wasps/what impact does it have on fig wasps?
●Causes damage to the fig wasp. ●Loses wings. ●Loses antennae. ●Can't go back out of fig. ●Use structure at bottom to deposit the eggs.
Describe the pollination process.
> Fig wasp stores to lay eggs in a fig.
> Fig wasp lays/deposits the eggs.
» Eggs fall down floret (stigma) & ovipositor.
»> Egg is in ovary.
»» Egg in ovary then becomes gall if egg is laid.
What is sexual dimorphism?
= where two sexes of the same species exhibit different characteristics beyond differences in sexual organs.
Explain or describe male fig wasps and their purpose in the whole fig pollination process
Male fig wasps are described to have no wings, have little to no vision and are robust.
Their role in the fig pollination process is to emerge first before the female fig wasps, to fight for mating rights, mate with female fig wasps while they’re still in the galls, dig a hole/tunnel out of the fig to allow female wasps to escape the fig, and then die.
Explain or describe the female fig wasps and their role in the whole fig pollination process.
Female fig wasps are described to have full wings and great vision but not so robust bodies like male fig wasps.
Their role/purpose in the fig pollination process is to first get into the fig through the ostiole, lay eggs and die. After laying these eggs they develop and the female eggs emerge only after the males have mated with them. They leave the fig with the help of the male fig wasps and search for another fig to pollinate before it dies.
What do pollinated flowers w/ larvae develop into?
Galls.
What do pollinated flowers w/o larvae develop into?
Seeds for fig plant.
Why are female fig wasps regarded as the better sex?
This is because they ensure that generations/offspring increase overtime and are passed on into the next generation through the production of the offspring, which makes them valuable.
Explain why most animal populations in the world have a 1 male: 1 female Fischer’s sex ratio.
With the sex ratio existing in a open mating system/freely mating population and it being 1 male to 1 female is because of the aim to establish a strong stabilizing selection which in turn reduces selection pressure.
Explain why fig wasps don’t have a common sex ratio but instead have a
0.5 male: 1 female sex ratio.
In fig wasps mating is often with siblings as they are in a closed mating system. Their sex ratio is often skewed and female biased in order to allow for offspring to be carried into the next generation thus, enabling evolutionary success.
How do fig wasps choose to have males or females?
This is possible through fig wasps being haplodiploid, meaning they are both diploid (n) and diploid (2n).
