Phenology of Ficus tinctoria ssp. swinhoei in Hengchun Peninsula, Taiwan

• Main Authors: Yi-Hsun Liu, 劉怡洵
• Other Authors: Hsy-Yu Tzeng
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/81415134546467643113

碩士 === 國立中興大學 === 森林學系所 === 102 === The Ficus spp., which is found in tropical and subtropical forests, is one of the “keystone species,” as it has special phenology patterns and a mutualism–pollination ecology. One dioecious fig, Ficus tinctoria Forst. f. ssp. swinhoei (King) Corner on the Cingwashih Trail of the Kenting Youth Activity Center in Pingtung, was surveyed regularly every 2–3 weeks from August 2010 to May 2014. This research studied the fig’s morphology, its phenological sexual differentiation, its syconium productive strategy, and the pollination–mutualism relationship between the fig and its species special pollinator, the Liporrhopalum gibbosae Hill. The male and female figs have almost identical external morphologies, but different interior structures. The long style female flowers have seeds which are pollinated by the female figs, whereas in the male figs, the short style female flowers develop galls because of eggs laid by wasps. In the female fig, the average number of florets is 415.6 ± 147.3, and the seed ratio is 78.5% ± 18.0%. In the male fig, the average number of florets is 650.5 ± 34.8, with the short style female flower having 614.8 ± 34.5 and the male flower having 34.3 ± 6.0, with a gall ratio of about 41.4% ± 16.1%. The leaf phenology shows that the tender leaves of the Ficus tinctoria ssp. swinhoei in Hengchun Peninsula, which have a definitive positive correlation with temperature and rainfall, are mainly found in spring and summer. The number of mature leaves on the female tree is also positively correlated with average temperature, but the number of mature leaves on the male trees shows insignificant correlation with average temperature and rainfall. A positive correlation was also found between the A phase female syconia and average temperature and rainfall, but this was not found in male trees. The phenology of the Ficus tinctoria ssp. swinhoei does show some seasonality related to climatic fluctuations on the Hengchun Peninsula. A sexual specialization when considering syconia production investment was observed from the relationship between the volume and weight of the wet or dry syconia. As the female tree invests more resources into a single female syconium, the dry volume to weight ratio increases in a geometric progression as the female syconium develops. The male tree, however, invests fewer resources into the single male syconium, which results in a stable dry volume to weight ratio as it develops. Seven species of fig wasps were discovered on the Ficus tinctoria, and one pollinator species on the Liporrhopalum gibbosae. The Sycoryctes sp1., Sycoryctes sp., Philotrypesis sp1., Philotrypesis sp2., and Arachonia sp. were found to be parasitic nonpollinators, and two species, i.e., Eufroggattisca sp.and Sycophila sp1, were found to be gallers.