A Study of Symbioses between Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang and Wiebesia pumilae
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Abstract
Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang belongs to a kind of climbing shrubs in Ficus, and in its syconium lives W iebesia pumilae. F. pumila var. aw keotsang blooms twice a year, and the number of its female and male tree is in the ratio of one to two. In the female syconium there are averagely 5503 flowers; in the male syconium averagely 6308 ones; under the natural condition its fruit-bearing and gall-producing rates are 83.52% and 51.33% respectively W. pumilae have two generations in a year, one female wasp who enters the syconium can averagely lay 600 eggs or make 1391 female flowers pollinated so that they bear fruits. F. pumila var. aw keotsang depends on the pollination of the W. pumilae, otherwise it can not bear any fruit. W. pumilae are the only insect that can enter the syconium pollinating and living there. They suit each other quite well in their structure and physiological function, have a complete joint in their life cycle synchronism, closely coordinate one another in the ecological strategy, and form a complex, delicate mutualism system.
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