Chiu Yu-Ting, Bain Anthony, Deng Shu-Lin, Ho Yi-Chiao, Chen Wen-Hsuan, Tzeng Hsy-Yu
Department of Forestry, National Chung- Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan.
Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Life Sciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
PLoS One. 2017 Oct 26;12(10):e0186763. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186763. eCollection 2017.
Presently, climate change has increased the frequency of extreme meteorological events such as tropical cyclones. In the western Pacific basin, these cyclones are called typhoons, and in this area, around Taiwan Island, their frequency has almost doubled since 2000. When approaching landmasses, typhoons have devastating effects on coastal vegetation. The increased frequency of these events has challenged the survival of coastal plant species and their posttyphoon recovery. In this study, a population of coastal gynodioecious Ficus pedunculosa var. mearnsii (Mearns fig) was surveyed for two years to investigate its recovery after Typhoon Morakot, which occurred in August 2009. Similar to all the Ficus species, the Mearns fig has an obligate mutualistic association with pollinating fig wasp species, which requires syconia (the closed Ficus inflorescence) to complete its life cycle. Moreover, male gynodioecious fig species produces both pollen and pollen vectors, whereas the female counterpart produces only seeds. The recovery of the Mearns fig was observed to be rapid, with the production of both leaves and syconia. The syconium:leaf ratio was greater for male trees than for female trees, indicating the importance of syconium production for the wasp survival. Pollinating wasps live for approximately 1 day; therefore, receptive syconia are crucial. Every typhoon season, few typhoons pass by the coasts where the Mearns fig grows, destroying all the leaves and syconia. In this paper, we highlight the potential diminution of the fig population that can lead to the extinction of the mutualistic pair of species. The effects of climate change on coastal species warrant wider surveys.
目前，气候变化增加了热带气旋等极端气象事件的发生频率。在西太平洋盆地，这些气旋被称为台风，在台湾岛周边地区，自2000年以来其发生频率几乎翻了一番。当台风逼近陆地时，会对沿海植被造成毁灭性影响。这些事件发生频率的增加对沿海植物物种的生存及其台风后的恢复构成了挑战。在本研究中，对一群沿海雌雄异株的瘤果榕变种麦氏榕（麦氏无花果）进行了为期两年的调查，以研究其在2009年8月发生的莫拉克台风后的恢复情况。与所有榕属物种一样，麦氏无花果与传粉榕小蜂物种存在专性互利共生关系，传粉榕小蜂需要隐头花序（封闭的榕属花序）来完成其生命周期。此外，雌雄异株的雄株无花果既产生花粉又产生花粉传播者，而雌株只产生种子。观察到麦氏榕的恢复速度很快，有叶片和隐头花序产生。雄树的隐头花序与叶片的比例高于雌树，这表明隐头花序的产生对榕小蜂的生存至关重要。传粉榕小蜂的寿命约为1天；因此，有接受能力的隐头花序至关重要。每个台风季节，很少有台风经过麦氏榕生长的海岸，会摧毁所有的叶片和隐头花序。在本文中，我们强调了无花果种群数量可能减少，这可能导致这一互利共生物种对的灭绝。气候变化对沿海物种的影响值得进行更广泛的调查。
