Taxonomy, systematics, and biogeography of Ficus subsection Urostigma (Moraceae)

Five research methods were used in Taxonomy, Systematics, and Biogeography of Ficus subsection Urostigma(Moraceae); Morphological characters, leaf anatomy, pollen morphology, molecular phylogeny, and historical biogeography. Seven topics are the result: 1) A revision was made based on morphology in which 27 species are recognized, but which also showed that morphology alone cannot solve all problems because of variation within the species. 2) Leaf anatomy displayed less variation in characters and anatomical characters proved to be useful for the classification of Ficus, especially in combination with morphology. 3) Pollen morphology appeared to be similar for all species and the characters can merely be used for generic recognition. 4) A new classification for subsection Urostigma is proposed in which the circumscription of the subsection and the species is the result of combining molecular phylogenetic information with morphology and leaf anatomy. 5) Ficus cornelisiana, a new species from Sino-Himalayan, was reported based on morphological and leaf anatomical evidence. 6) The historical biogeography was studied by using molecular dating and ancestral area reconstruction. 7) The use of some Thai species within subsect. Urostigma is reported, six of them are used as food, as ornamental, or the uses are related to religion or sacred purposes.UBL - phd migration 201

A New Case of Ants Nesting within Branches of a Fig Tree: the Case of Ficus subpisocarpa in Taiwan

Ficus is one of many plant genera involved in interactions with ants. The interaction is however little documented. We show here that ants, belonging mainly to the genus Crematogaster, nest in hollow internodes of young branches of Ficus subpisocarpa, a monoecious fig species studied in Taiwan. The ants feed on the mutualistic fig-pollinating wasps as well as on parasitic non-pollinating fig wasps. Nevertheless fig-wasps may not constitute a sufficient food source to ensure permanent presence of ants on the tree as the ants were observed to be frequently associated with hemipterans such as coccids and aphids. Fig wasps seem to constitute a reliable and sufficient food source on some dioecious Ficus species. On the contrary, in monoecious Ficus species, resident ants have always been observed to tend homopteran in addition to feeding on fig wasps. Frequent fruiting, prolonged fruit ripening period, ramiflory and rapid growth could constitute traits facilitating strong association based on fig-wasps' consumption of the monoecious F. subpisocarpa with ants. Despite these traits, ants were observed to tend hemipterans, and F. subpisocarpa does not seem to have evolved specialized morphological traits to facilitate the association

Adaptation of Fig Wasps (Agaodinae) to their host revealed by large-scale transcriptomic data

Figs and fig wasps are highly species-specific and comprise a model system for studying co-evolution and co-speciation. The evolutionary relationships and molecular adaptations of fig wasps to their fig hosts are poorly understood, and this is in part due to limited sequence data. Here, we present large-scale transcriptomic datasets of 25 fig wasp species with the aim of uncovering the genetic basis for host specificity. Our phylogenetic results support the monophyly of all genera associated with dioecious figs, and two genera associated with monoecious figs, Eupristina and Platyscapa, were revealed to be close relatives. We identified gene loss and gain, potentially rapidly evolving genes, and genes under positive selection. Potentially functional changes were documented and we hypothesize as to how these may determine host specificity. Overall, our study provides new insights into the evolutionary diversification of fig wasps and contributes to our understanding of adaptation in this grou

Conserved community structure and simultaneous divergence events in the fig wasps associated with Ficus benjamina in Australia and China

Localised patterns of species diversity can be influenced by many factors, including regional species pools, biogeographic features and interspecific interactions. Despite recognition of these issues, we still know surprisingly little about how invertebrate biodiversity is structured across geographic scales. In particular, there have been few studies of how insect communities vary geographically while using the same plant host. We compared the composition (species, genera) and functional structure (guilds) of the chalcid wasp communities associated with the widespread fig tree, Ficus benjamina, towards the northern (Hainan province, China) and southern (Queensland, Australia) edges of its natural range. Sequence data were generated for nuclear and mtDNA markers and used to delimit species, and Bayesian divergence analyses were used to test patterns of community cohesion through evolutionary time. Both communities host at least 14 fig wasp species, but no species are shared across continents. Community composition is similar at the genus level, with six genera shared although some differ in species diversity between China and Australia; a further three genera occur in only China or Australia. Community functional structure remains very similar in terms of numbers of species in each ecological guild despite community composition differing a little (genera) or a lot (species), depending on taxonomic level. Bayesian clustering analyses favour a single community divergence event across continents over multiple events for different ecological guilds. Molecular dating estimates of lineage splits between nearest inter-continental species pairs are broadly consistent with a scenario of synchronous community divergence from a shared "ancestral community". Fig wasp community structure and genus-level composition are largely conserved in a wide geographic comparison between China and Australia. Moreover, dating analyses suggest that the functional community structure has remained stable for long periods during historic range expansions. This suggests that ecological interactions between species may play a persistent role in shaping these communities, in contrast to findings in some comparable temperate systems

An extreme case of plant-insect co-diversification: figs and fig-pollinating wasps

It is thought that speciation in phytophagous insects is often due to colonization of novel host plants, because radiations of plant and insect lineages are typically asynchronous. Recent phylogenetic comparisons have supported this model of diversification for both insect herbivores and specialized pollinators. An exceptional case where contemporaneous plant insect diversification might be expected is the obligate mutualism between fig trees (Ficus species, Moraceae) and their pollinating wasps (Agaonidae, Hymenoptera). The ubiquity and ecological significance of this mutualism in tropical and subtropical ecosystems has long intrigued biologists, but the systematic challenge posed by >750 interacting species pairs has hindered progress toward understanding its evolutionary history. In particular, taxon sampling and analytical tools have been insufficient for large-scale co-phylogenetic analyses. Here, we sampled nearly 200 interacting pairs of fig and wasp species from across the globe. Two supermatrices were assembled: on average, wasps had sequences from 77% of six genes (5.6kb), figs had sequences from 60% of five genes (5.5 kb), and overall 850 new DNA sequences were generated for this study. We also developed a new analytical tool, Jane 2, for event-based phylogenetic reconciliation analysis of very large data sets. Separate Bayesian phylogenetic analyses for figs and fig wasps under relaxed molecular clock assumptions indicate Cretaceous diversification of crown groups and contemporaneous divergence for nearly half of all fig and pollinator lineages. Event-based co-phylogenetic analyses further support the co-diversification hypothesis. Biogeographic analyses indicate that the presentday distribution of fig and pollinator lineages is consistent with an Eurasian origin and subsequent dispersal, rather than with Gondwanan vicariance. Overall, our findings indicate that the fig-pollinator mutualism represents an extreme case among plant-insect interactions of coordinated dispersal and long-term co-diversification

บทบาทของเอนไซม์ทรานส์กลูทามิเนสในกล้ามเนื้อต่อการเซ็ทตัวของซูริมิจากปลาในเขตร้อนบางชนิด

Thesis (M.Sc., Food Technology)--Prince of Songkla University, 200

Ficus pongumphaii (Moraceae), a new species from Thailand, compared with the ambiguous species F. talbotii

A deciduous shrub previously included in Ficus talbotii for many years, is now regarded as a new species, Ficus pongumphaii. It is morphologically distinct from F. talbotii with as typical characters the densely brown pubescent to tomentose or villous on leafy twig; the elliptic, suborbicular to obovate leaf blades that are brown tomentellous on the upper surface and brown floccose tomentose to villous underneath; the pedunculate figs are obovate, brown floccose or villous outside and have internal hairs. The leaf anatomy shows a multiple epidermis on both surfaces; enlarged lithocysts on both sides of the lamina, which are more abundant adaxially and with very few abaxially. The species, endemic to Thailand, is named after the great Thai dendrologist, Associate Professor Somnuek Pongumphai