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Cape Town's international symposium on figs and fig wasps (2000)
PROGRAMME Sunday,
10 September
18.00
- 20.30 Welcoming cocktail party and
registration: South African Museum. Monday,
11 September
7.30
- 8.00 Registration: South African
Museum. Ficus
symposium. Chairperson: Finn Kjellberg
LUNCH
13.00-14.00 14.00
- 17.00 Tour
of Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens. 17.00
- 18.00 Poster session & Happy
Hour: South African Museum. Tuesday,
12 September
Phylogeny
& Co-evolution symposium. Chairperson: Jaco Greeff
LUNCH
13.00-14.00 Fig
– higher animal interactions symposium. Chairperson: Simon van Noort
18.00
- 19.00. Cocktail party in the Whale Well of the SA Museum. 19.00
- 20.30. Participatory African
drumming with the Drum Café in the Whale Well of the SA Museum. Wednesday,
13 September
Ecology
symposium. Chairperson: James Cook
LUNCH
12.30-13.30 13.30
- 18.00 Field trip to Cape Point in
the Cape Peninsula National Park. 18.00
Conference Dinner at Monkey Valley. Thursday,
14 September
Workshop:
Reproductive strategies and policing in a mutualism, ending with an informal
braai in the afternoon.
A
classification of Ficus (Moraceae)
under reconstruction C.C.
Berg The
Norwegian Arboretum/Botanical Institute, University of Bergen, 5259
Hjellestad, Norway, e-mail: Cornelis.Berg@bot.uib.no The
classification we have to deal with is the one proposed by Corner (1958, 1960,
1961, 1965). Neither botanists (Berg, 1989, 1998) nor entomologists (e.g.,
Ramirez, 1977) are quite satisfied with that classification. Although modern
analytic methods will sooner or later contribute to a good 'natural'
classification, but as a short term approach, re-evaluation of the use
morphological characters can lead to a more satisfactory classification. The
basis for this is to be an intimate knowledge of the genus down to the level
of species (750 in total) worldwide. The extension of (my) studies from the
African and the neotropical Ficus
flora to the Malesian one created the opportunity to establish gradually that
basis and a stage that a provisional revised classification can be presented.
The major subdivisions (6) are the subgenera Urostigma
(A), Pharmacosycea (B), Ficus
(C), Synoecia (D), Sycidium
(E), and Sycomorus (F), each
subdivided into sections (19) and subsections (26) and numerous groups of
related species (to be recognized as series?). These entities are related to
morphological criteria, among which dioecy, heterostyly, bracts and
bracteoles, glandular spots, and position of flowers and syconia. Moreover,
the entities are related to distribution patterns. These and morphological
patterns suggest that there are three sets of subgenera: A + B, C + D, and E +
F, which might represent three radiation events. The genera of pollinators can
be largely related to subgenera, sections or subsections. A basic question in
the evaluation (and evolution) of morphological traits of flowers and syconia
is whether and to what extent they are functionally related to requirements
and the evolution of the pollination system or physical and behavioral traits
of the pollinators.
A
photographic review of some South-Central African figs, together with comment
on Ficus natalensis Hochst. and Ficus thonningii, sensu lato. John
Burrows Buffelskloof
Nature Reserve, P. O. Box 710, Lydenberg, 1100, South Africa, e-mail:
botart@intekom.co.za A
photographic review of those species of Ficus not found in the Flora of
Southern Africa region and which are characteristic of the South-Central
African subregion. Some mention will be made of two of the subcontinent's most
problematic species complexes: Ficus natalensis Hochst and Ficus
thonningii sensu lato, together with their associated fig wasps.
Species
interactions within the fig wasp community of Ficus
microcarpa L. in Taiwan Ying-Ru
Chen1*, Lien-Siang Chou2 and Wen-Jer Wu1 1Department
of Entomology, Taiwan National University, Taiwan, e-mail:
yrchen@ms10.url.com.tw 2Department
of Zoology, Taiwan National University, Taiwan Based
on the observation of 35 trees from 1993-1998, although of a small size, figs
of Ficus microcarpa L. are host to
19 species in 12 genera of non-pollinators, which oviposit by puncturing fig
walls from outside. In order to investigate the relationships within this
complicated community, we observed the data as follows: (1) Time sequence of
oviposition, (2) Dissect D-phase figs from natural condition to record
ovipositing floret types and offspring number of each species, (3) Using
bagging experiments to control each factor. The results show that Philotrypesis
emeryi, Philotrypesis okinavensis and
Walkerella kurandensis came to oviposit before the pollinators, while Sycoscapter
gajimaru, Sycoryctes moneres, Philotrypesis
taiwanesis and Sycophila
spp. oviposited after the pollinators. Some D-phase figs were found to
include only Odontofroggatia spp.,
Walkerella kurandensis, Eufroggattisca
okinavensis or Meselatus bicolor,
four genera can stimulate figs to stay on trees and which do not depend on
pollinators, this can prove that they are gallers. Analysis of D-phase figs
revealed that pollinators occupied petiole florets, while sessile ones
developed into seeds because of morphological division. A number of
non-pollinators occupied sessile florets and affected seed production, but Philotrypesis
spp., Sycoryctes meneres
and Sycoscapter gajimaru with
long ovipositors occupied petiole florets as did the pollinators. This result
implies that the offspring of Sycoscapter
gajimaru, Sycoryctes moneres,
and Philotrypesis spp. may depend
on pollinators, perhaps even eating them. Comparing the offspring numbers of
pollinators between bagging experiments and natural data, we found that
Sycoscapter gajimaru and Sycoryctes
moneres indeed reduce the pollinators’ offspring number one to one, they
are the parasitoids of pollinators. The data also showed that the influence of
gallers’ numbers to pollinators’ are bigger than parasitoids do.
Seasonal
fluctuation of Ficus microcarpa L.
and pollinators in Taiwan Ying-Ru
Chen1* and Lien-Siang Chou2 1Department
of Entomology, Taiwan National University, Taiwan, e-mail:
yrchen@ms10.url.com.tw 2Department
of Zoology, Taiwan National University, Taiwan Time
match between the fig crops and pollinators population is the most important
problem in the phenological cooperation between figs and pollinators. In order
to understand the matching situation, 35 Ficus
microcarpa L. trees were investigated weekly in the campus of National
Taiwan University in Taiwan during August 1992 to December 1998 for 6 years.
The research works included phenological investigation of Ficus
microcarpa L. and population dynamics of pollinators. All crops were
divided into 3 flowering seasons by 2 distinctly resting flowering periods
annually in the field. One of the resting periods was from November to January
and lasted for 1-2 months; the other from April to May was shorter. There were
very few, even no figs during the period. The crops in Winter-Spring season
were longer than that in Summer and Autumn seasons. On the other hand, Eupristina
verticillata, the pollinators of Ficus
microcarpa L., flies out from D-phase figs and has to enter the B-phase
figs immediately because of their short lives. The relative population index
of pollinators was estimated by pollinator's occupying rate (wing mark) and
the number of pollinators in B-phase figs. The occupying rates of pollinators
in each crop were low in Winter-Spring and Summer but high in Autumn. The
number of pollinators in each fig varied from 1 to 6. The population dynamics
of pollinators fluctuated greatly within a year. However, it was quite steady
between years. The biological modeling that is simulated the situation in
fields by computer infers that if 1 pollinator flies in the field, the
population will establish immediately and climb to the maximum in 3 months.
This implies high mortality rate and strong reproductive ability of pollinator
population. |
