Non‐pollinating cheater wasps benefit from seasonally poor performance of the mutualistic pollinating wasps at the northern limit of the range of Ficus microcarpa

• Published in: Ecological entomology Vol. 44; no. 6; pp. 844 - 848
• Main Authors: Zhang, Ting, Miao, Bai‐Ge, Wang, Bo, Peng, Yan‐Qiong, Darwell, Clive T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.12.2019; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Agaonidae; Biodiversity; Cheater; Coexistence; competition; competitive exclusion; Constraints; Ficus; Ficus microcarpa; fig wasps; Mutualism; phenology; Plant reproduction; Pollination; Pollinators; reproductive success; Seasonal variations; Sibling species; Sympatric populations
• ISSN: 0307-6946; 1365-2311
• DOI: 10.1111/een.12749

1. Species interactions in tightly bound ecological mutualisms often feature highly specialised species' roles in which competitive exclusion may preclude multi‐species coexistence. Among the 800 fig (Ficus) species, it was originally considered that each was pollinated by their own wasp (Agaonidae). However, recent investigations show that this ‘one‐to‐one’ rule often breaks down, as fig species regularly host multiple agaonids but in ways suggesting that competitive processes still mediate biodiversity outcomes. 2. A phenological survey was conducted of the fig–fig wasp pair, Ficus microcarpa and its associated pollinating wasp, alongside its sister species, the cheating wasp, in Xishuangbanna, China. 3. Reproductive output underwent extreme seasonal variation. Seed and pollinator production fell markedly during cooler, drier months, although high levels of fig production continued. However, this resource was predominantly utilised by the cheater species, which offers no pollination services. Pollinators and cheaters rarely co‐occur, suggesting that temporal coexistence is constrained by competition for access to figs. 4. The overall findings indicate periodic rearrangements of mutualism dynamics, probably resulting from a strongly seasonal environment. Sympatric co‐occurrence may result from a window of opportunity for a functionally divergent agaonid, potentially due to constraints on the main pollinator in adapting to variable year‐round conditions that prevent competitive exclusion. This study shows marked seasonal variation in pollinator and seed production in a fig–wasp obligate mutualism at the range margins of a wide‐ranging species. The host fig, Ficus microcarpa, continues to produce figs during seasons when the abundance of its mutualistic wasp pollinator is low; these figs are then exploited by the non‐pollinating sister species. Non‐aligned responses between mutualists suggest that atypical, localised ecological conditions have destabilised host–pollinator biological matching, facilitating a transition from tightly bound mutualistic interactions to pronounced periodic decoupling of pollination services.